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    Golf Course Atop Ancient Native American Earthworks to Be Removed

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    After reaching a settlement with an Ohio country club to acquire its lease on the Octagon Earthworks, the state historical society intends to open the site as a public park.After more than a decade of at-times acrimonious back and forth, Ohio’s state historical society has reached a deal with a country club that operates a golf course on land it owns that contains ancient Native American earthworks that were built as sacred sites some 2,000 years ago.Under the agreement, the society, known as the Ohio History Connection, will acquire the club’s long-term lease on the property and open the site for full public access, the society announced on Thursday.The financial terms were not disclosed, but the settlement allows both parties — which were initially millions of dollars apart in their negotiations — to avoid a jury trial to determine the fair market value of the lease. The Ohio Supreme Court had ruled in 2022 that the historical society could use eminent domain to buy out the lease from the Moundbuilders Country Club, which has operated a private golf course atop the Octagon Earthworks since 1910.The History Connection, which acquired the land containing the earthworks in 1933 and has since leased it to the club, will take over the lease on Jan. 1, according to the settlement.“Our guiding principles throughout this process have been to enable full public access to the Octagon Earthworks while ensuring Moundbuilders Country Club receives just compensation for the value of its lease on the property,” Megan Wood, the executive director and the chief executive of the History Connection, said in a statement. “And now we have accomplished those things.”The mounds in Newark, about 40 miles east of Columbus, are part of a network of eight archaeological sites in Ohio, known as the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, that were created one basketful of earth at a time, using pointed sticks and clamshell hoes.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Premier League’s Asterisk Season

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      As it concludes an epic title race, soccer’s richest competition is a picture of health on the field. Away from it, the league faces lawsuits, infighting and the threat of government regulation.With five minutes left in his team’s penultimate game of the Premier League season, Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola found the tension just a little too much. As a rival striker bore down on his team’s goal, Guardiola — crouching on his haunches on the sideline — lost his balance and toppled over onto his back.Lying on the grass and expecting the worst, he missed what may yet prove to be the pivotal moment in the Premier League’s most enthralling title race in a decade.But the striker did not score. His effort was parried by goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, sending Manchester City above its title rival Arsenal in the standings and positioning it, if it can win again on Sunday, to become the first English team to win four consecutive championships.“Ortega saved us,” Guardiola said afterward. “Otherwise, Arsenal is champion.”That the destiny of the championship should have been determined only so late in the season seems fitting for what has, on the surface, been a vintage Premier League campaign.All of that drama, though, comes with a figurative asterisk. This season’s Premier League has been defined as much by turbulence off the field — points deductions, internecine bickering, legal disputes, fraud accusations and the looming threat of government intervention — as it has been by City’s (eventual) smooth sailing through it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Investor’s Lawsuit Accuses 777 Partners of $600 Million Fraud

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      In a suit filed in federal court in New York, a firm that provided hundreds of millions of dollars to 777 accused the company of double-pledging its collateral to other investors.The American investment firm 777 Partners, whose bid to buy the English Premier League soccer team Everton has been on hold for months amid doubts about the company’s finances, was accused by one of its lenders on Friday of running a yearslong fraud scheme worth hundreds of millions of dollars.The accusation came in a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in New York by Leadenhall Capital Partners, a London-based asset management company. It said that it had provided 777 Partners with more than $600 million in financing, only to discover that roughly $350 million in assets serving as collateral for the loans either were not in 777’s control or had already been pledged to other lenders.The lawsuit is the latest, most serious claim against 777 Partners, which has for years made bold assertions about its financial health — it has previously claimed $10 billion in assets — even as it was trailed a string of lawsuits, corporate failures and unpaid bills.The suit could have immediate implications for 777’s stalled bid to buy Everton: The Premier League has not approved the sale, and the financially strapped club recently said it was seeking alternate investors.But questions about the company’s balance sheet also carry the risk of contagion for the broader world soccer market, given that 777’s portfolio includes ownership stakes in teams in Australia, Brazil, Belgium, France and Germany, and because it owes debts at all of them.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Ancient Earthworks Trodden by Golfers Become a World Heritage Site

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      The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has recognized the Octagon Earthworks in central Ohio as a cultural marvel.Nine months after the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a country club must sell its lease to the state historical society that owns the land containing Native American earthworks, golfers are still pushing carts over the mounds and whacking at them with 3-irons.But now those Octagon Earthworks, which Native Americans constructed about 2,000 years ago as a means of tracking the movement of the sun and the moon through the heavens, have officially been named a UNESCO World Heritage site.“Inscription on the World Heritage List will call international attention to these treasures long known to Ohioans,” said Megan Wood, the executive director and chief executive of the Ohio History Connection, which worked with the National Park Service and the Interior Department to have a combination of eight earthworks sites in central Ohio recognized.Those sites, collectively known as the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, include the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, which were created one basketful of earth at a time with pointed sticks and clamshell hoes.The designation, announced on Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, puts the earthworks among just over 1,000 World Heritage sites. There are only 25 in the United States, among them the Grand Canyon, Independence Hall and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.“The historical, archaeological and astronomical significance of the Octagon Earthworks is arguably equivalent to Stonehenge or Machu Picchu,” Justice Michael P. Donnelly wrote in the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in favor of the state historical society, which upheld two rulings by lower courts.The recognition comes after a yearslong battle between the Moundbuilders Country Club, which had leased the land since 1910 and operated a private golf course atop the earthworks, and the Ohio History Connection, which owns the site and intends to open it as a public park.The History Connection sued the country club in 2018 in an attempt to acquire the lease, which runs through 2078. Federal officials had told the historical society that securing World Heritage recognition, which brings international acclaim and legal protection, would be impossible without full public access to the site.The club had argued that ending the lease was not necessary to establish public use and had contended that it had preserved and cared for the mounds. Its members, the president of the club’s board of trustees, David Kratoville, told The New York Times in 2021, “come out for a day and clean up sand traps and plant flowers.”After the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling last year, the country club filed a motion for reconsideration that was quickly denied.Kratoville wrote in an email on Tuesday that the country club had been good stewards of the Octagon Earthworks and welcomed their World Heritage recognition.“All we have ever asked for through this long-drawn-out situation was to be compensated fairly, thus allowing our business to continue somewhere else for our members, our community and the 100 or so people we employ,” Kratoville said.The club had said it was willing to move before the lease was up, but the parties are millions of dollars apart in their negotiations. The value of the lease will now be determined in a jury trial that is set to begin Oct. 17. More

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      Amid U.S. Open Fanfare, U.S.T.A. Fights Questions of Its Handling of Sexual Abuse

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      Kylie McKenzie accused a U.S.T.A. coach of inappropriately touching her when she was 19. In depositions, the organization has questioned her sexual history.For several months, the United States Tennis Association has positioned this year’s U.S. Open as a key moment to celebrate its 50-year record of leadership on women’s equity and empowerment, tied to its payment of equal prize money to its top players.At the same time, it has been litigating its handling of accusations of sexual assault made by a female player who worked with a male coach at the U.S.T.A.’s marquee training center in Florida, with depositions that have included detailed questioning about the woman’s sexual history.Kylie McKenzie, a 24-year-old from Arizona who was once one of the most promising junior players in the country, sued the U.S.T.A. last year, claiming the organization had failed to protect her from a coach who inappropriately touched her after a practice in 2018, when she was 19 and he was 34.Attempts to mediate a settlement have not been successful, prompting lawyers to begin to depose witnesses as they prepare for a possible trial.During those depositions, a lawyer for the U.S.T.A. asked McKenzie about how many sexual partners she had had before the incident, about medications she had taken to treat anxiety and depression, and about the nature of her discussions with her therapist.The lawyer asked the player’s mother, Kathleen McKenzie, whether she knew that her daughter had taken birth control pills and a morning-after pill.The types of questions, though common in lawsuits centered on sexual abuse, have been widely criticized by advocates for victims, who say they discourage women from coming forward when they are abused.“This is what always happens,” said Pam Shriver, a former player and television commentator who was deposed in the case as a witness for McKenzie and who has worked with the U.S.T.A. on and off for years.In a statement, Chris Widmaier, chief spokesman for the U.S.T.A., said the organization had “no intention of revictimizing or shaming” McKenzie in any way. “We were given inconsistent testimony and were simply seeking to determine which version was true,” he said.Shriver testified that U.S.T.A.’s top lawyer, Staciellen Mischel, last year warned her to “be careful” about her public statements on sexual abuse in tennis. Shriver has become an ally of McKenzie’s since going public with her own story of abuse last year in an interview with The New York Times.When a lawyer representing the U.S.T.A. in the McKenzie case asked Shriver whether anyone at the U.S.T.A. had discouraged her from speaking out about sexual abuse, she responded: “Depends how you interpret the conversation from Staciellen. Part of my interpretation was that I needed to be careful. And in that interpretation, meaning don’t say too much.”When asked about Mischel’s conversation with Shriver, Widmaier said the organization had deep sympathy for Shriver. “We would never stifle anyone from telling her story,” he said.McKenzie’s case stems from her work with a coach, Anibal Aranda, who worked at the U.S.T.A.’s center. The organization had supported her development since she was 12, and she had spent time training at its centers in California and Florida. McKenzie described an escalation of physical contact and isolation that made her uncomfortable. She initially thought that Aranda had different norms for physical contact because he had grown up in Paraguay before moving to the United States. Then, on Nov. 9, 2018, Aranda sat close to her on a bench after practice so that their legs were touching and then put his hand between her thighs, she said.McKenzie quickly reported the incident to friends, relatives, U.S.T.A. officials and law enforcement. The U.S.T.A. promptly suspended and then fired Aranda, who denied touching McKenzie inappropriately. A lengthy investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, the organization tasked with investigating sexual and physical abuse claims in sports, found it “more likely than not” that Aranda had assaulted McKenzie. The police took a statement from McKenzie, stated there was probable cause for a charge of battery and then turned the evidence over to local prosecutors, who opted not to pursue a criminal case.Aranda did not return repeated messages seeking comment.McKenzie said she soon began to experience panic attacks and depression, which have hampered her attempts to progress in her sport.During the SafeSport investigation, a U.S.T.A. employee said that Aranda had groped her and touched her vagina over her clothes at a New York dance club around 2015. She did not disclose the incident to anyone at the time. The employee told SafeSport that after she learned about McKenzie’s accusations, she regretted not reporting her interaction with Aranda.Widmaier has said previously that the U.S.T.A. only learned about the accusations made by one of its employees toward Aranda after McKenzie reported her complaint to the authorities, and that it moved to fire Aranda immediately.McKenzie has spent the year playing in lower-tier tournaments while battling anxiety and depression. As of late last month, she was ranked 820th in the world.In April, weeks after she made the final of a tournament in Tunisia, she testified for seven hours in her pretrial deposition. Kevin Shaughnessy, a lawyer at BakerHostetler representing the U.S.T.A., asked her about the weeks leading up to the 2018 incident, and questioned why McKenzie did not report earlier instances of inappropriate touching by Aranda during workouts as he coached her on how to serve.McKenzie said that she did not expect Aranda’s behavior to escalate and that she did not expect to be pursued sexually. “I was naïve,” she said.Shaughnessy then asked her whether she had had a boyfriend previously, or if she had ever had a guy “come on” to her before. When McKenzie said she was not really involved with boys at the time, he asked about the number of sexual partners she had had and whether she had been intimate with a particular player at the training center.In July, Shaughnessy deposed McKenzie’s mother and asked whether she had been told by another U.S.T.A. coach when McKenzie was 14 that her social life was getting in the way of her tennis, and that she should have her phone taken away because she had kissed a boy. Kathleen McKenzie was also asked if her daughter had ever believed she was pregnant.Robert Allard, McKenzie’s lawyer and a specialist in representing victims of sexual assault in sports, said the U.S.T.A.’s questioning showed a strategy of “belittling, embarrassing and intimidating survivors.”Shriver, who has worked to support the U.S.T.A.’s efforts to increase participation and helped raise money for the organization and its foundation, said she was initially torn when Allard asked her to testify. However, she has made supporting tennis players who are assault victims a priority.“In the end, I feel a real pull to support and give some perspective to what it’s like to be a player and have a coaching situation not be professional,” Shriver said on Friday at the U.S. Open, where she was commentating for ESPN. “I feel like supporting young women who have been traumatized.” More

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      Spanish Soccer Body Threatens to Sue Over Player’s Account of Kiss

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      The group said it was defending the honor of its president, Luis Rubiales, who kissed the player, Jennifer Hermoso. Players have vowed not to take the field until he resigns.Spain’s soccer federation late Friday threatened legal action to protect its president’s reputation after a member of Spain’s victorious women’s World Cup championship team said he had forcibly grabbed and kissed her on the lips, prompting calls for his resignation.Luis Rubiales, the Royal Spanish Football Federation chief, has insisted he did nothing wrong with regard to the player, Jennifer Hermoso, who said she never consented to his actions but had faced pressure to publicly back Mr. Rubiales.Mr. Rubiales’s kiss — broadcast live to millions — cast a pall over the team’s celebrations and recalled a history of accusations of sexism in Spanish soccer.“I want to clarify that, as seen in the images, at no time did I consent to the kiss he gave me,” Ms. Hermoso said Friday in a statement issued by the country’s soccer union. “I do not tolerate my word being questioned, much less that it be made-up words that I haven’t said.”In a statement, the federation vowed to take “as many legal actions as are appropriate in defense of the president’s honor” following Ms. Hermoso’s account of what happened. Mr. Rubiales said that Ms. Hermoso lifted him up, citing this as evidence she approved of his actions, and his organization has backed him.Ms. Hermoso has denied intending to lift Mr. Rubiales.Players on the Spanish women’s team, along with dozens of others, have said they will refuse to play for the national team until “the current managers,” including Mr. Rubiales, are gone. More

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      PGA Tour and LIV Golf Seek to Drop Litigation Against Each Other

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      Although the tour’s deal with the Saudi wealth fund has not closed, the request to a federal judge was a milestone in golf’s surprise détente.The PGA Tour, LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund asked a federal judge in California on Friday to dismiss the litigation that catapulted golf’s economic and power structure into the American court system.The request to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be refiled, came less than two weeks after the tour and the wealth fund, which bankrolled LIV, announced a tentative agreement to form a partnership. Although the deal may not close for months and faces mounting scrutiny in Washington, Friday’s submission in Federal District Court in San Jose, Calif., was a milestone in the abrupt détente between the rival circuits.Judge Beth Labson Freeman, who has been overseeing the case, is expected to approve the request, a cornerstone of the tentative agreement between the tour and the wealth fund. By abandoning the litigation, LIV, the PGA Tour and the wealth fund are limiting the potential for damaging revelations and surging legal bills, as well as closing off one avenue for recourse if the new alliance falls apart.Justice Department officials, who were already conducting an antitrust inquiry into men’s professional golf, are expected to review the deal closely and could even try to block it or compel changes to it. At least two Senate panels are demanding information about the planned transaction and its consequences, and the deal has not even secured the approval of the PGA Tour’s board.Much about the agreement itself also remains in flux, including the valuations of the assets of the tour, LIV and the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour, that are to be housed inside the new for-profit venture. The tour’s commissioner, Jay Monahan, is expected to serve as the company’s chief executive, and Yasir al-Rumayyan, the wealth fund’s governor, is poised to be its chairman. The PGA Tour expects to hold a majority of the seats on the new company’s board, but the wealth fund will have extensive power over how it is bankrolled, assuring the Saudis of significant influence.Until June 6, when the deal was announced, the PGA Tour had warned against allowing Saudi money and influence to take hold in golf, fueling California litigation that had a costly, complicated life.The acrimonious proceedings began last August, when 11 LIV players, including the major tournament champions Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau, brought a lawsuit that accused the tour of violating antitrust laws. LIV itself joined the case later that month.The tour also pursued its own claims against LIV, which it said had improperly interfered with existing contracts with players. The tour later received Judge Freeman’s approval to expand its case to include the wealth fund itself and al-Rumayyan, just one of the rulings that placed pressure on the Saudis and their allies, whose superior financial resources put the tour under immense strain.The tour, the wealth fund and LIV waged a ferocious battle over evidence collection in the case, and many filings in the case were redacted, but a federal magistrate judge concluded this year that the wealth fund was “the moving force behind the founding, funding, oversight and operation of LIV,” undercutting its contention that it was a passive investor in golf.A trial had not been expected until at least next year.Hours before Friday’s filing from the tour and LIV, The New York Times filed a motion that asked the court to unseal records in the case. The Times cited a “substantial and legitimate public interest in these proceedings and their outcome” and suggested that the planned partnership could make concerns of competitive harm moot.“To the extent that competitive harm existed at the time of sealing, those justifications may not apply with the same force today — or upon completion of the parties’ anticipated merger,” The Times’s filing said. “Sealing is a decision that can and should be revisited as facts change and circumstances require.”It was not clear when the judge would rule on either of Friday’s motions. More

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      in Basket

      How Victor Wembanyama Could Fit on the San Antonio Spurs

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      The Spurs know a thing or two about developing talented big men. But the once-stable franchise hasn’t been good for years.Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-4 dynamic forward who is this year’s most prized N.B.A. prospect, cheered with his family in France as the San Antonio Spurs won the 2023 draft lottery Tuesday night. In San Antonio, fans, perhaps understandably, celebrated like they had won a championship, yelling in bars and honking car horns.An ESPN reporter who interviewed Wembanyama on television moments after the Spurs won the lottery acted as if the draft, which is next month, had already happened. “What are the San Antonio Spurs getting in Victor Wembanyama?” the reporter asked.Typically, athletes in these situations try to dismiss the idea that they will be the No. 1 pick and deflect with answers about being happy with whichever team selects them and how thankful they will be to be drafted at all.But not Wembanyama, and frankly, why would he? He isn’t a typical draft prospect, and he wasn’t going to pretend to be one, either. He didn’t deflect. He had a straightforward answer about what he could be for the Spurs.“A team player,” he said, adding: “I’m trying to win a ring ASAP, so be ready.”Here’s what to know about the Spurs and Wembanyama, the 19-year-old star of the French professional team Metropolitans 92.France and the Spurs have a long and successful connection.Tony Parker and Boris Diaw are two of the best basketball players from France to ever play in the N.B.A., and they both won championships with the Spurs under Coach Gregg Popovich.The Spurs drafted Parker with the 28th pick in the 2001 draft. He spent 17 seasons with the team, winning four titles, and he will be the first French player inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, with the ceremony scheduled for August. Parker posted a photo on Twitter of Wembanyama wearing a No. 9 Spurs jersey — Parker’s number — as a child and wrote, “Yesss he’s going to the @spurs!!! So proud of you.”Diaw played for the Spurs in five seasons, and helped them win a championship in 2014.“There’s a special relationship between France and the Spurs because of Tony, of course, and also Boris,” Wembanyama said on Tuesday. “I know half of the country, maybe if not the whole country, wanted the Spurs to have the first pick, so I was looking at everyone, and everyone was happy, so I was too.”The Spurs have a great track record with big men.Already being called the greatest prospect ever, Wembanyama will now follow in the footsteps of Tim Duncan and David Robinson, two of the best big men in N.B.A. history. Together, they led the Spurs to two championships, then Duncan led the Spurs to three more titles after Robinson retired.Tim Duncan, left, and David Robinson, right, won two championships together with the Spurs.Barton Silverman/The New York TimesThe good part for Wembanyama is that Popovich, who coached Duncan and Robinson, is still there to help him develop. Still, Wembanyama is a much different player from Robinson or Duncan, traditional big men who were at their best playing in the post with their backs to the basket.Wembanyama is comfortable scoring at all three levels of the court, adeptly dribbling around defenders to score and shooting jumpers that players his size are not supposed to be able to make. It will be a new experience for Popovich.San Antonio is one of the most successful franchises in N.B.A. history.The Spurs have the fifth-most championships in N.B.A. history (five), and won all of them between 1999 and 2014 under Popovich. With Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginóbili, the Spurs developed a core that anchored a dynasty.Duncan was the best player of the group, winning the Most Valuable Player Award in 2002 and 2003. His Spurs also fended off many great teams and players to win championships. In both the 1999 and 2003 Western Conference semifinals, they beat Lakers teams led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. In the 2007 N.B.A. finals, they swept LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers.“The talent, the coaching, everything in San Antonio was kind of a perfect storm,” Bryant said on the “All the Smoke” podcast in 2020. “If they weren’t in the picture, we probably would have won 10 in a row.”The Spurs have struggled and been involved in controversy.When the Spurs were winning, they were considered the model franchise in the N.B.A., with a great coach and stars who willingly bought into his system. But that mystique has dissolved.The Spurs have not made the playoffs since 2019 and have become something of a punching bag in the league. At a news conference in September just before the beginning of the 2022-23 season, Popovich was honest about where the team stood: “Nobody here should go to Vegas with the thought of betting on us to win the championship,” he said. “And I know somebody will say, ‘Gosh, what a Debbie Downer. There’s a chance. What if they work really hard?’ It’s probably not going to happen.”Popovich was right. The Spurs won 22 games, their third-lowest win total in franchise history.Amid that abysmal season, Joshua Primo, the Spurs’ 2021 first-round draft pick, was accused of repeatedly exposing himself to a team sports psychologist during treatment sessions. The psychologist accused the team of failing to protect her and others even after she reported Primo’s conduct.The Spurs cut Primo, and the psychologist settled a lawsuit against the team and Primo.San Antonio couldn’t make it work with one key star.In Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs appeared to have found their next star to lead them out of the Duncan, Parker and Ginóbili years. He helped them win a championship in 2014 and was named the finals M.V.P. But in the 2017-18 season, Leonard injured his thigh and missed most of the year.Gregg Popovich has coached the Spurs since 1996.Jerome Miron/Usa Today Sports Via Reuters ConThroughout the year, some public comments by teammates and Popovich seemed to imply that they questioned the severity of Leonard’s injury. At one point, Parker said he had the “same kind of injury” as Leonard, “but it was a hundred times worse,” and it had only taken him eight months to recover.After the season, Leonard requested a trade and was sent to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for a package that included DeMar DeRozan. The next season, Leonard led the Raptors to their first title in franchise history.The Spurs roster lacks talent.Unlike Duncan, Wembanyama may not have an established big man like Robinson on the team who can help him grow.The Spurs are laden with young players; only three players on the roster this season have more than four years of experience. Wembanyama will become the team’s best player on Day 1, responsible for carrying one of the league’s most notable franchises back to relevancy.Of course, the Spurs have the whole summer to rebuild their team around Wembanyama. Based on how their fans are celebrating, everyone in San Antonio is ready for something new. More

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      4 People Accused of $13 Million in Pro Athlete Fraud Schemes

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      Prosecutors said the people, including a former N.B.A. agent, took money from professional basketball players and spent it on luxury goods and home renovations.Four people were arrested Thursday and charged with collectively defrauding four professional men’s basketball players out of more than $13 million, according to Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.In one scheme, three players were allegedly persuaded to purchase more than $5 million worth of life insurance policies at an enormous markup. In another, a fourth player spent $7 million to buy a women’s professional basketball team, but prosecutors said the money never went toward a purchase. In the third scheme, a player spent $1 million to fund a player representation agency that never existed, according to the indictment.“These defendants believed that defrauding their professional athlete clients of millions of dollars would be a layup,” Williams said in a statement. “That was a huge mistake, and they now face serious criminal charges for their alleged crimes.”Darryl Cohen, Brian Gilder, Charles Briscoe and Calvin Darden Jr. were each charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.Cohen, who was formerly a broker at Morgan Stanley, was also charged with one count of investment adviser fraud. Briscoe, who was formerly a certified N.B.A. agent, was also charged with one count of aggravated identify theft.Cohen, Gilder, Briscoe and Darden could not be reached for comment, and court filings did not list lawyers for any of them. Brandon Reif, a lawyer who previously represented Cohen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.In a statement, Morgan Stanley, where Cohen worked from 2015 to 2021, said he had been “terminated” in March 2021 and had since been barred from the securities industry. “We fully cooperated with the investigation and have resolved clients’ claims related to Mr. Cohen,” a spokeswoman for the firm said.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil complaint against Cohen.The identities of the professional athletes that prosecutors say were defrauded were not released. But many of the details of the life insurance scheme appear to match claims made by Jrue and Lauren Holiday, Chandler Parsons and Courtney Lee, who previously described allegations of being defrauded by Cohen to The New York Times.Jrue Holiday plays for the N.B.A.’s Milwaukee Bucks, and Lauren Holiday, his wife, is a former professional soccer player. Parsons and Lee are former N.B.A. players. They all said they had filed claims against Cohen with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which oversees brokerage firms.According to the indictment, between about 2017 and 2020, Cohen and Gilder induced three N.B.A. players to purchase about $6.2 million in life insurance policies, from which Cohen and Gilder “secretly profited” about $4.5 million. Cohen allegedly gave about $200,000 of the money to a person with whom he was in a romantic relationship and used the other funds to pay off a former professional baseball player who was threatening to sue him, to pay his credit card bill, and to renovate his home, according to prosecutors.Another plan involved purchasing a women’s professional basketball team, according to the indictment. An N.B.A. player had wanted to purchase the team, but was forbidden from doing so by the N.B.A.’s collective bargaining agreement.The player discussed an “arrangement” with Briscoe, Darden and others, in which the player would indirectly buy the team through a company controlled by one of Darden’s relatives, prosecutors said. The player transferred $7 million to a bank account, which was controlled by Darden, to purchase the team. But instead, prosecutors said, Darden transferred more than $1 million to Briscoe and more than $500,000 to a relative, then spent the rest on cryptocurrencies, a house, luxury cars, art and a piano.Cohen, Briscoe and Darden are also accused of defrauding an N.B.A. player who wanted to start a player representation agency that he would run after he retired, according to court filings. The player gave Briscoe $1 million so the agency could pay expenses involved with signing a highly touted prospect. But prosecutors said the prospect never signed with the agency, and that the purported contract he signed was forged. The money allegedly was transferred to Briscoe, who paid off a debt and gave some of it to Darden, according to the indictment. More