A former co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings who defrauded a short-lived professional football league known as the Alliance of American Football in a $700 million cryptocurrency scam was sentenced Monday to more than six years in prison.
Reginald Fowler, 64, of Chandler, Arizona, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to six years and three months in prison and ordered to forfeit $740 million and pay $53 million restitution.
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Arizona businessman Reggie Fowler addresses reporters after Minnesota Vikings owner Red McCombs announced the proposed sale of the team to Fowler, February 14, 2005, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Fowler, a former Vikings co-owner who defrauded a short-lived professional football league known as the Alliance of American Football while running a $700 million cryptocurrency scam was sentenced Monday, June 5, 2023 to more than six years in prison. prison. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)
The Football Alliance came to a quick end in 2019 when it ran out of money.
Prosecutors said Fowler lied to league executives when he claimed he controlled bank accounts with tens of millions of dollars of real estate investments and government contracts that he could use to support the league.
In 2005, he tried to purchase the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, becoming a minority owner before his involvement with the team ended in 2014.
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A Minnesota Vikings helmet on the grass before the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on October 16, 2022 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images)
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Fowler violated the law by processing hundreds of millions of dollars in unregulated transactions on behalf of cryptocurrency exchanges that were used as a shadow bank.
«He did this by lying to legitimate US financial institutions, which exposed the US financial system to serious risk,» Williams said. «He then victimized a professional soccer league by lying about his net worth in exchange for a substantial share of the league.»
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A detailed view of the NFL crest logo is seen on the back of a Minnesota Vikings helmet during a game between the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings on December 20, 2021, at Soldier Field in Chicago, IL. (Photo by Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
In a sentencing filing, defense attorney Edward Sapone wrote that Fowler was heartbroken that he allowed himself to participate in crimes after more than six decades of extraordinary contributions to family and community.
«Reggie is extremely sorry,» Sapone wrote. “The American Football League did not benefit from the investment that Reggie had planned to make. Reggie’s bank accounts were frozen, he was unable to secure the investment money and he was unable to invest the large sum of money that he promised to invest. «