of the National Basketball Players Association. Fraud conviction On May 25, 2016, Washington was indicted for embezzling roughly $5,000,000 meant for children in Africa. On December 4, 2017, he pled guilty to three counts: one of aggravated identity theft, and two of making a false statement in a tax return. Washington used the charity to launder money he received as kickbacks. Washington, as a regional representative for the National Basketball Players Association, referred NBA players to San Diego attorney Ronald Mix, who then made donations to the charity, but were actually illegal referral payments. Washington then withdrew this money for personal spending. Washington failed to report this money as income on his tax return. In July 2018, he was sentenced to six years in federal prison for charity fraud. He was released in 2022. Personal life His older brother Eric, a former St. Louis Cardinals player, died of suicide in 1984. See also List of NCAA Division I men's basketball season rebounding leaders The Breaks of the Game References Footnotes Sources Chin, Oliver Clyde. The Tao of Yao: Insights from Basketball's Brightest Big Man. California: Frog, LTD. 2003 Feinstein, John. The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever. Little, Brown 2002 0316279722 Halberstam, David. The Breaks of the Game. Random House 1981 Lamovsky, Jesse, Rosetti, Matthew, & DeMarco, Charlie. The Worst of Sports: Chumps, Cheats, and Chokers from the Games We Love. Ballantine Books 2007 Lazenby, Roland. The Show: The Inside Story of the Spectacular Los Angeles Lakers In The Words of Those Who Lived It. McGraw-Hill 2005 Mandelbaum, Michael. The Meaning Of Sports: why americans watch baseball, football and basketball and what they see when they do. New York: Public Affairs 2004 Simmons, Bill. The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy. (ebook) ESPN 2009 External links Legal Timeout with Kermit... The Coach by Jeff Twiss @ NBA.com 1951 births Living people 21st-century African-American people African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American Eagles men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Washington, D.C. Basketball players from Washington, D.C. Boston Celtics players Golden State Warriors players Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Los Angeles Lakers players National Basketball Association All-Stars New York Nets draft picks Portland Trail Blazers players Power forwards (basketball) San Diego Clippers players Violence in sports 20th-century African-American sportspeople