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Ex-Colts QB Ordered to Pay $500K Over Ticket Scam
Art Schlichter was suspended by the NFL for gambling in 1983, a year after he was the Colts' No. 1 draft pick.
Former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Art Schlichter was ordered to pay more than $500,000 to 22 victims of a ticket-selling scam. They most likely will never see the money, prosecutors said.
Judge Tanya Walton Pratt on Friday accepted a plea agreement between the 44-year-old Schlichter and prosecutors. Last month he pleaded guilty to corrupt business influence and being a habitual offender.
The agreement also includes an eight-year prison sentence, but the ex-player is unlikely to serve additional prison time.
Pratt ordered the time to be served concurrently with a five-year federal penalty that Schlichter already is serving, and Indiana gives inmates one day of jail credit for each day served with good behavior.
Scam victims are unlikely to get any money back, Deputy Prosecutor Larry Brodeur said.
"Those civil judgments are in place in case he comes into some money," Brodeur said.
Schlichter pleaded guilty in January 2001 to federal charges of money laundering, forging securities and unauthorized use of credit cards to pay gambling debts.
He was indicted following an Internal Revenue Service investigation into a scheme in which he sold tickets to sporting events and promised he could resell the tickets for a profit. The events included Indiana Pacers and Indianapolis Colts games, as well as the NCAA Final Four.
The former Ohio State quarterback was the No. 1 draft pick by the then-Baltimore Colts in 1982. He was suspended by the NFL in 1983 for gambling. He later returned to the Colts, who had relocated to Indianapolis in 1984, but was released the following season.
Schlichter has said he plans to treat his gambling problem when released from prison.
"I think the difference now is that Art has been in prison for a long, long time," said his attorney, Jack Crawford. "People have a tendency to bottom out and Art's gambling addiction has caused him to 'bottom out,' and he knows there is no way to go but up."
Source: AP