Sentencing delayed for Henderson sports agent

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

The sentencing of a Henderson sports agent who pleaded guilty to stealing $36,000 from professional basketball player Jennifer Azzi was postponed this morning.

U.S. District Judge David Hagen delayed Ronald Allen's sentencing until after he can hear testimony on Feb. 8 from people who represent the now-defunct American Basketball League, Nike and Reebok.

Allen, 49, originally was indicted in October 1998 on three counts of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud in connection with a scam in which four pro basketball players, including Azzi, were the victims.

Allen pleaded guilty to the bank fraud count in July in exchange for the government dismissing the wire fraud counts.

According to the indictment, the women -- Azzi, Andrea Lloyd, Angela Aycock and Tari Davis, all members of the American Basketball League -- had agreed to wear Reebok sportswear under an endorsement contract.

Allen, who was the women's agent, faxed Reebok and the ABL fake endorsement contracts from Nike in the fall of 1997 in the hopes that Reebok would match or increase the women's contracts, the indictment states.

In addition, Allen allegedly endorsed a $36,000 check to Azzi from Lanktree Sports Celebrity in that same period, deposited it into his account and then later spent it, the indictment states.

Allen's attorney, assistant U.S. Public Defender Leslie Fatowe, asked Hagen not to consider the three wire fraud counts he was indicted for and two additional counts he was not indicted for in the sentencing. The other two counts involved basketball players Debbie Black and Jennifer Ruff.

While Allen does not deny that forged endorsement contracts were faxed to the ABL and Reebok, he denies having anything to do with it, Fatowe said.

In fact, Fatowe said, Lloyd, Davis and Aycock had already signed contracts with Nike at the time the fake contracts were faxed and thus had no reason to renegotiate with Reebok. Reebok had also already indicated they weren't interested in the lesser-known players, she said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Schiess, however, pointed out that the faxes came from Allen's office.

Schiess also noted that the women were not being paid by Nike to wear their sportswear. If Allen had been able to convince Reebok, through the fake contracts, that Nike was paying the women and Reebok had agreed to give the women more than Nike, Allen would have gotten a percentage, Schiess said.

If Allen had been successful, Reebok would have lost more than $108,000, court records indicate.

"He's the only person with incentive" to forge and fax the contracts, Schiess said.