Rashard Lewis and James Jones have been added to a victims list that also includes former Miami Heat teammate Mike Miller where an Ohio businessman is alleged to have duped numerous local residents out of as much as $10 million in an elaborate real estate scam.
According to CBS News, police have identified Haider Zafar as the mastermind behind the scheme and U.S. District Judge Edmund A. Sargus has ordered him held without bail because he is considered a flight risk and danger to the community.
During court proceedings late last week, a witness told the court Zafar, a Pakistani native and U.S. legal resident, routinely told people that his uncle was Pakistan’s defense minister and was responsible for buying property for that country’s government.
The 135-count indictment also alleges that between 2008 and 2010 he defrauded Washington businessman Patwinder Sidhu out of as much as $10 million based on several bogus real estate ventures.
None of the Heat players were directly mentioned in the criminal complaint, nor does it detail how much money they are thought to have invested. The Heat, in a statement, have said the team remains in "constant contact" with the authorities handling the investigation.
Using the amnesty provision, the Heat waived Miller last July and he has since signed with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Zafar has pled not guilty to all the charges pleaded not guilty last month to all charges. At the time of his arrest last May, he was found to be carrying a Louis Vuitton bag with $10,000 in cash, a handgun, 40 bullets and an expired Pakistani passport.
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