Poor Mike Miller. He sat out a good chunk of last season with a thumb injury, only to return to not win the NBA Finals. Now it turns out he was taken for a financial ride by Ponzi schemer Anthony John Johnson. Guy just can't catch a break.
Of course, maybe Miller should have done his homework before investing with Johnson, who was arrested for a previous financial scheme in 2007.
While awaiting sentencing for a pump-and-dump scheme, in which Johnson inflated the value of stocks before dumping them, he decided to pull yet another scam -- this time of the Ponzi variety. He targeted several neighbors and friends in the posh Westchester County suburbs of New York City, and in addition to Miller, also scammed an heir to the Quaker Oats fortune and the former drummer of the Scissor Sisters.
Johnson teamed up with Randal Hansen, of Turnton, South Dakota, to run the latest scheme. Miller also hails from South Dakota.
Investors began suspecting something was up in March, and some even showed up on his doorstep. He began talking to his lawyer about turning himself in but still continued the charade. Eventually he turned himself in. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail for the initial pump-and-dump scheme last week, and will face sentencing for the Ponzi charges next week.
The New York Post tried to contact Miller but did not get a response. The paper did, however, reach his father in South Dakota. The reporter mentioned Johnson's name, and Miller's dad laughed before saying, "Yup, we know him."
It's unclear how much money Miller might have lost in the scheme.
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