Josh Huskin http://www.joshhuskin.com/
Tim Duncan finally settled his lawsuits against his ex-financial advisor Charles Banks, granting the Spurs star a $7.5 million settlement. Banks, who Duncan said defrauded him out of $20 million, is currently seven months into a four-year prison sentence.
Banks' $7.5 million was released to Duncan last week, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
The ordeal stems back to Duncan’s 2013 divorce, when Duncan’s lawyers initially discovered millions of dollars had gone missing. Eventually, Duncan and his lawyers concluded that Banks, Duncan’s financial advisor of almost two decades, had been siphoning Duncan’s money into various business ventures destined to fail, while lying to the player with false reassurances, like text messages reading: “all great news…. No downside.”
In his victim statement, Duncan said that in his 19 years as an NBA athlete, he wanted to “make a living that would last [him] for the rest of [his] life.” He had counted on Banks, and the two had “built a trusting relationship.” Or so Duncan thought.
In April 2017, Banks pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud.
In the lawsuits, Duncan claimed Banks had "encouraged, promoted, and hustled" him into investing in a series of bad ventures. Banks admitted he had convinced Duncan to invest millions in hotels, beauty products, sports merchandising and wineries — but according to Duncan, Banks failed to disclose he owned or had financial stakes in many of those ventures.
Banks' wire fraud charges largely centered on Duncan's investment to a company Banks owned, Gameday Entertainment LLC. According to the mulitple suits, that particular investment — a $7.5 million loan— exposed him to millions in liability, instead of potentially benefitting him. Banks continued to urge Duncan to invest, even though the deal never saw returns.
In all, Duncan invested over $24 million based on Banks' financial advice — but he never saw returns, because most of the entities he invested in either went bankrupt, or didn't profit enough for him to earn back his investments, the Express-News reported back in June.
Though the $7.5 million pales in comparison to the estimated $24 million Duncan allegedly lost because of Banks, the settlement gives the Spurs star the opportunity to finally move on.
