Former NBA player convicted of fraud

BOSTON, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A former NCAA and NBA basketball player was convicted on fraud charges involving $700,000 in business loans he spent on himself, U.S. authorities said.

Rumeal Robinson, who clinched the NCAA men's basketball championship for Michigan in 1989 with two free-throws and later played for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA, was convicted Wednesday in a federal court in Iowa on 11 counts including bank bribery and wire fraud, The Boston Globe reported.

Prosecutors said Robinson received a $377,000 loan from the Community State Bank in Ankeny, Iowa, in October 2004 and wired $100,000 to the personal account of Brian Williams, a loan officer at the bank.

Williams pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud shortly before Robinson's trial.

Robinson said on loan documents the money would be "short-term working capital'' for his business, Megaladon Development Inc. in Miami.

Instead, prosecutors said, Robinson and his girlfriend spent the money on designer furniture, cars and a Florida condominium.

By November 2005, prosecutors said, Robinson had obtained more than $700,000 in loans from the bank without making a single repayment.

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years' imprisonment and a fine of $1 million.

A sentencing date has not been set, the Globe reported.