Former NBA player Richard Jefferson's personal assistant Joseph Criza was jailed for 70 months for stealing Jefferson's $4.7 million, according to US media reports.
In April 2005, Jefferson hired Criza as his personal assistant, responsible for his day-to-day work, including paying bills and more. Jefferson focused on the NBA and ignored his own pocketbook. Between 2005 and 2012, Criza obtained funds by forging Jefferson's signature in multiple documents and fraudulently.
Criza also opened a separate bank account in Jefferson's name to allow him to conceal the use of Jefferson's personal funds. Through investigation, Criza stole Jefferson's money from Jefferson's salary, endorsement contracts, and the sale of apartments to maintain his family's luxurious life, and he even tried to buy a private jet.
This is not the first NBA self-theft case, in 2015 Duncan took his personal financial adviser Banksy to court, suing Banksy for fraud, causing himself huge financial losses. Banks made a profit of $7.5 million by forging Duncan's signature, and subsequent reports suggested that Duncan may have lost more than $25 million in total.
Most NBA players are not good at managing money, so many speculators have their huge salary cake, jefferson and Duncan are deceived by the people closest to them, just in response to the old saying, know the face and do not know the heart.