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In Miami not even superstar athletes are immune from getting played by shady conmen.
Today, a judge sentenced Haidar Zafar to six years in prison for defrauding former Miami Heat players Mike Miller, James Jones, and Rashard Lewis out of $7.5 million. To add insult to injury, Zafar then used that money to buy Heat season tickets.
Zafar pretended to be a member of a wealthy Pakastani family, and in 2013 agreed to spend $1.055 million for a top-of-the-line, three season ticket packages to Heat games. For whatever reason, someone at the organization decided to let Zafar pay for the package later, and he used his new-found access to ingratiate with the players.
Zafar approached Miller, Jones, and Lewis separately and told them that he had a slam-dunk investment opportunity lined up, but that they only had a matter of days to pony up the money or lose the opportunity.
Between the three he collected $7.5 million, but never invested any of it. Instead, he just spent it on himself — and to pay for those season tickets.
Zafar plead guilty back in September.
He has also plead guilty to a separate scheme in which he defrauded D.C.-area businessmen out of $10 million.
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