A US conman has admitted fleecing Australia's largest basketball association out of almost $US100,000 ($A127,250) and will repay the club under a plea agreement.
Stephen Bruce Gordon, 62, a trainer who worked for the Seattle SuperSonics, Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves NBA teams, entered a guilty plea to wire fraud in a Washington state court over a bizarre Ponzi scheme in which he claimed to have the backing of Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer.
Under the plea agreement, Gordon has agreed to pay restitution to Melbourne's Knox Basketball Incorporated, which has 5500 junior players and 9000 members, and was financially rocked by the scam.
Gordon has also agreed to make restitution to his 29 other victims who lost around $US4 million in other schemes.
"Defendant, having been advised of the right to have this matter tried before a jury, agrees to waive that right and enter a guilty plea," the agreement, signed by Gordon and filed in the US District Court in Seattle, states.
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Prosecutors said Gordon contacted former Australian Olympic and NBL player Wayne Carroll, who was Knox's executive director, with a grand tale about how former Microsoft chief executive Ballmer "wanted to promote basketball overseas".
Ballmer did have a close friendship with Gordon, but was not aware of the Knox plan and never agreed to invest in overseas basketball operations through Gordon.
Gordon claimed Knox was selected as the global headquarters of the initiative, but under the scheme he would need to be paid a $US4000 monthly consulting fee for almost two years.
Carroll received approximately 10 phone calls between October 2011 and June 2013 from someone pretending to be Ballmer.
"Stephen Bruce Gordon recruited at least one individual to impersonate SB (Steve Ballmer) on telephone calls to investors to prolong his scheme and to dissuade investors from taking legal steps to recoup their investments," the plea agreement states.
Gordon told another victim he needed $US60,000 to help qualify him to become a part-owner of an NBA franchise, with the promise of a $US1.4 million payment in return.
Gordon faces up to 20 years' jail.
