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Former financial adviser to Mike Tyson and Glen Rice sentenced for embezzling $1 million

September 6, 2017 at 6:32 p.m. EDT
Former boxer Mike Tyson and his wife, Lakiha Spicer, were so close to Brian Ourand that he attended their wedding, according to victim impact statements filed by the couple. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

A financial adviser who stole from clients including heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and basketball star Glen Rice was sentenced Wednesday to 33 months in prison and ordered to repay $1 million.

Brian J. Ourand, 56, a former executive with a D.C.-based management group owned by Live Nation Entertainment, pleaded guilty in federal court in February to one count of wire fraud and agreed to pay back $1 million that he embezzled from Tyson, Rice and two other athletes and spent on personal services, travel, dining and gambling debts, among other purchases.

“All I can say is I am sorry for the pain, shame and embarrassment that I caused for the clients, and for family and friends,” said Ourand, now of Chicago. His defense had sought a sentence of one year, citing letters of support from family members, colleagues, friends, teachers and another client, basketball player Rod Strickland.

U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan disagreed, saying, “The position of trust that you abused,” the nature of the offense, ­Ourand’s relatively privileged background “and the egregious manner in which you stole from clients merits a higher sentence.”

Former financial adviser to Mike Tyson, Glen Rice pleads guilty in criminal fraud

Chutkan cited letters known as victim impact statements filed by Tyson and his wife, Lakiha Spicer, who said Ourand was so close to them that he attended their wedding, helped them through the accidental death of their 4-year-old daughter in 2009 and advised Tyson through his bankruptcy.

“You became one in a long line of people who betrayed them and stole from them,” Chutkan said, adding, “Just because you’re famous, just because you’re rich, doesn’t mean you can’t be hurt or can’t be a victim.”

The letters were filed with the court Aug. 28 as part of a ­pre-sentencing report that is not typically made public.

Ourand, a former executive of SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises, was separately found guilty last year of mis­appropriating client funds by the Securities and Exchange Commission and ordered to pay another $1 million — to return $671,367 plus interest and pay a $300,000 civil penalty.

An SEC judge named Ourand’s victims as Tyson, who filed a $5 million lawsuit against SFX in Los Angeles in February 2013; Rice; and basketball star Dikembe Mutombo. SFX reached an agreement or settled a lawsuit to repay each client.

The SEC alleged that Ourand was fired by SFX after having written checks and initiated wire transfers from client accounts for his own benefit from 2006 until his dismissal in August 2011.

Asked by Chutkan on Wednesday why he did it, Ourand replied that on advice of his assistant federal defender, he could not comment, citing the SEC prosecution.

Financial adviser charged with stealing $1 million from pro athletes

Under the plea deal with the U.S. attorney’s office for the District, Ourand agreed to pay back $1 million, mostly to SFX, for losses including $546,168 he stole between 2006 and 2011 from Tyson; $265,124 from Rice; $182,957 from the player identified by the SEC as Mutombo; and $8,141 from an unidentified fourth athlete.

In charging documents, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District alleged that the embezzlement scheme began as early as May 2003. The indictment listed Ourand’s expenditures with the stolen money, including a $2,466 stay at the Renaissance Hotel in Chicago, dental work, Nordstrom Rack clothing, dry cleaning and treatment at a tanning salon.

Other expenses allegedly included private school tuition for a relative of a girlfriend.

Ourand has split time since 2015 among Miami; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Chicago, federal filings show. He told Chutkan that he also has a residence in the Lake Michigan resort town of New Buffalo, Mich.

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