By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit has indicted ex-NBA player Jay Vincent who played with Magic Johnson at Michigan State University in an alleged $2 million Internet employment scam, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities alleged that Vincent, 51, and Athony Portee, 53, both of Lansing, Mi., bilked jobseekers out of 20,000 job seekers out of $2 million.
The indictment alleges that between 2006 and 2009 the two men concocted defrauded people seeking jobs inspecting foreclosed homes through their company Foreclosure Bank Inspection Co., AP reported
The company charged each applicant $149 for liability insurance and $89 for a background check, but they hired no one to perform inspections and pocketed the money.
Vincent played on the NCAA championship at Michigan State with Magic Johnson in 1979 and later went on to play in the NBA on a number of teams including Dallas, Washington, Denver, San Antonio and the Los Angeles Lakers. He ended his career in Philadelphia in 1990, AP reported.
His attorney Charles Ford told AP Vincent is “a legitimate businessman” and is cooperating with the probe.
