Orlando, Florida - U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza has sentenced John A. White (40, Windermere) to four years and nine months in federal prison for wire fraud and filing a false tax-related document. A federal jury found him guilty on Sept. 2, 2015. The Court will decide at a later date the amount of restitution White owes and the proceeds he must forfeit.
According to evidence presented at trial, from 2006 through 2012, White was employed as the personal assistant to NBA basketball player Gilbert J. Arenas, who has since retired from professional basketball. During calendar years 2008 through 2011, White stole approximately $2,188,170 from Arenas by making unauthorized online banking money transfers from one of Arenas’s bank accounts, into three different bank accounts that White controlled. White spent these funds on his own personal expenses, including mortgage payments for his home in Windermere, and the purchase of a Ferrari and a Range Rover. White also filed false joint income tax returns with the IRS for each of these years. In these tax returns, he and his wife never reported more than $60,000 in gross income, when in fact their joint income was significantly greater, due to the money White had stolen from Arenas.
White’s false tax returns caused a tax loss of approximately $621,144 to the IRS.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the United States Secret Service. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Andrew C. Searle.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
