CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A professional golfer who received a $57,000 payment from basketball star Michael Jordan for a gambling debt was convicted Friday night on federal money laundering charges.
James 'Slim' Bouler was found guilty of five counts of laundering drug money and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
He was acquitted on charges of drug trafficking.
Bouler, 41, was charged with laundering drug proceeds for convicted drug kingpin James Edward 'Ned' Johnson by buying a Mercedes for Johnson's girlfriend in 1989, and using $153,400 in alleged drug money for a 1990 high-stakes golf match in Texas that never materialized.
Bouler remains free pending sentencing in December. His attorney, James Wyatt, said he will appeal the jury's verdict 'until my dying day, because I believe Mr. Bouler is innocent.'
The case drew national attention when federal agents seized the $57, 000 check written by Jordan to Bouler for Jordan's losses in a 1991 Hilton Head, S.C., stakes tournament.
The Chicago Bulls star was subpoenaed to testify in Bouler's trial, and on Thursday he admitted the money was a golf and gambling debt, contradicting Jordan's earlier statements that the money was a loan to Bouler to help him buy property for a golf driving range.
Jordan testified that his initial account about a loan was to 'save embarassment and pain and the connection to gambling.'
The incident was investigated by the National Basketball Association and Jordan was exonerated. He was never implicated in the probe of Bouler.