A Georgia-based travel agent faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for his role in defrauding the George Mason men’s basketball team out of a trip to The Bahamas in August.
Maurice Eugene Smith, 44, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court earlier this month, stemming from a scheme he orchestrated that left George Mason’s plans for the trip unbooked and unpaid for, according to federal court documents.
Smith, who will be sentenced on July 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, could also be forced to pay a maximum $250,000 fine, as well as restitution to nine different victims, the plea agreement said.
For two years, Smith orchestrated a Ponzi scheme while operating travel agency Eugene Toriko LLC, resulting in cumulative losses exceeding $220,000. That included nearly $160,000 alone from the George Mason University Foundation, according to federal prosecutors.
Smith had been contracted by sports events marketing firm The VII Group to plan and book the team’s five-day trip. The GMU Foundation paid money to The VII Group, who then would remit the funds to Smith’s travel agency.
Instead of paying to secure reservations, lodging, airfare and more, Smith regularly took the money paid to his company and used spent it elsewhere. He told the owner of The VII Group otherwise, continuing to “exchange numerous emails and text messages” up until three days before the team’s August departure, court documents say.
Shortly before the team’s scheduled departure, Smith’s scheme became unraveled.
“The basketball team’s players, coaches, staff, and supporters who believed they had reservations for the trip to the Bahamas did not learn that reservations were not made for them until hours before the scheduled departure,” an affidavit says.
In a letter sent to George Mason officials in September, Smith chalked the trip’s failure up to a “logistical error.” In reality, Smith had paid money to book his own travel, as well as reimburse another college that had fallen victim to his scheme.
Federal authorities took Smith into custody in December.
