Former investment advisor of Scottie Pippen has been sentenced to up to three years in prison for deceiving his clients. The former American basketball player invested over $20 million with Robert Lunn, who forged his signature and took away his investments.
Lunn was convicted to three years in prison for committing bank fraud, less than the nine-year term pursued by prosecutors. Lunn used the $1.4 million loan amount, which he received by counterfeiting Pippen's signature, to repay his personal debts. Charles Norgle, the US district Judge, found that the money advisor had lied about faking Pippen's signature and by appealing that he had been granted consent to apply for another loan under the name of Robert Geras, a former venture capitalist, as reported by Chicago Tribune.
In addition to the imprisonment, the judge also penalised Lunn with a fine of $2.7 million and ordered him to pay a compensation of $1.5 million that included $400,000 payable to Pippen. John Beal, Lunn's lawyer, told Norgle that Pippen had previously regained $8 million in a bankruptcy court following the sale of South Side shopping mall, where the money advisor had pumped in huge capital from Pippen's investment money to another contractor, abcNews reports.
In his letter, Pippen wrote "Our accountant notified us that there was a reason to believe Mr. Lunn had taken our investments and committed bank fraud. To learn that such a substantial amount of our earnings were in the hands of a criminal was so disturbing. We felt violated and betrayed." But, Beal calls his letter as "an outrageous sob story."
In 2014, Lunn illegally received a total of nearly $3 million as loan amount from Leaders Bank in Oak Brook, including the $1.4 million that he received by faking Pippen's signature. Prosecutors alleged Lunn for using the money for his personal needs, paying mortgages and other investment customers. However, Beal defended Lunn saying that the South Side shopping mall contract landed him in insolvency and that the failed deal was an aberration in an investment business.
But prosecutors pointed out that Lunn had also lied regarding his educational background, which included a graduate certificate from Brother Rice High School and degrees from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, but none was right.
According to CHICAGO SUN TIMES, in 2004, Pippen received a compensation amount of $11.8 million in a civil case against Lunn. The US authorities said that Lunn distorted the price of his assets in order to receive loans.
In the letter, Pippen said that this betrayal has left him and his wife, Larsa, more anxious about their future financial condition. During the trial, Pippen said that he will not sign any documents for Lunn.
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