A former Atlanta Hawks senior executive is accused of embezzling more than $3.8 million to cover international trips, Porsche expenses, and sports and entertainment tickets.
As reported by local ABC affiliate WSB-TV, citing initial coverage in The Athletic, federal court documents have charged Lester Jones, who worked for the Hawks as senior vice president of finance, with felony wire fraud.
Jones worked for the Hawks from March 2016 until this past June. The indictment accuses the former executive of scheming to defraud the Hawks through “false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.”
As a senior finance executive, Jones had access to multiple American Express credit cards and could authorize charges to cards for other Hawks employees, according to prosecutors.
Investigators say Jones would submit fake expense reimbursement requests and alter invoices for business expenses that didn’t exist.
The fraudulent charges included trips to the Bahamas, Costa Rica, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Switzerland and Thailand. Jones also allegedly spent money on Louis Vuitton apparel, jewelry, tickets for concerts and sporting events and Porsche car expenses.
With the trip to Vegas, the indictment claims that Jones tried to submit an invoice for nearly $230,000 at the Wynn Hotel back in January when the Hawks played in the NBA Emirates Cup.
Prosecutors said the bill didn’t exist and that Jones had altered a form that another Hawks employee filled out.
A federal judge granted Jones a $10,000 bond with a set of conditions, including surrendering his passport to the U.S. Probation Office.
