Dwight Howard’s WNBA Swindler Faces Lengthy Prison Sentence

A man convicted of defrauding both former NBA All-Star Dwight Howard and Howard’s former Houston Rockets teammate, Chandler Parsons, should be sentenced to 11.25-14 years in prison, federal prosecutors argued this week in the Southern District of New York.

U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick will sentence Calvin Darden Jr. on Jan. 27. A jury convicted Darden of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy last October. 

The trial followed a multiyear ruse in which Darden tricked Howard into thinking he was buying the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream franchise. Howard later learned through an ESPN news report regarding the sale of the Dream that he had been duped. Parsons, meanwhile, was misled into believing he was loaning money to a future NBA lottery pick.

U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick will sentence Darden on Jan. 27.

Howard, who earned about $245 million in salary during his 18 seasons in the NBA per Spotrac, became interested in purchasing the Atlanta Dream about five years ago. At the time, Mary Brock and Kelly Loeffler, who represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate from 2020 to 2021 and is currently President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Small Business Administration, owned the Dream. Howard reached out to his agent, Charles Briscoe, who in turn connected him to Darden and his father, Calvin Darden Sr., a prominent retired businessman. Prosecutors introduced evidence showing that Darden Jr. impersonated his father, including by using different phone numbers, as part of the plot.

Prosecutors further established that Darden conspired with Howard’s agent, Charles Briscoe, to dupe Howard into sending $7 million for what Howard thought was a step toward buying the Dream. The money instead was rerouted to a shell company controlled by Darden, who relied on multiple banking institutions to keep the money shielded:

Darden crafted a fictitious “vision plan” that falsely claimed Tyler Perry, Issa Rae, Naomi Osaka, Aflac and Starbucks would support Howard becoming the owner. The “plan” contained a slide connecting Tyler Perry Studios to Darden Sports Group and asserting together they would “document and showcase women’s diverse interests and stories across sports, business, culture and more.”

Howard testified that the supposed involvement of Perry and other “heavy hitters” made him more confident to invest.

Darden and Briscoe also convinced Parsons, who played nine seasons in the NBA, to turn over $1 million, which the two fraudsters claimed was a loan to James Wiseman. At the time, Wiseman was a top prospect in the 2020 NBA draft; he would later be picked second overall by the Golden State Warriors. Darden and Briscoe “falsely claimed to know Wiseman,” prosecutors established, and forged a document to falsely show Wiseman had picked Briscoe as his agent. For his part, Briscoe pleaded guilty in 2023 to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced to time served. 

With the stolen money, Darden purchased a multimillion-dollar mansion, several cars (Rolls-Royce, Mercedes G63, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Lamborghini Aventador) and other luxury items.

Meanwhile, in 2021, Howard saw an ESPN report that the Dream had been sold. Except he wasn’t the new owner. Instead, a group that included Northland chairman Larry Gottesdiener, Northland COO Suzanne Abair and former Dream star Renee Montgomery were the buyers. 

Abair testified in the trial. She confirmed that her group owns 100% of the Dream, had never engaged with other potential buyers and doesn’t know Darden or Briscoe. She also said her only familiarity with Howard was by reputation. Prosecutors introduced an email from one of Darden’s accounts purporting to reflect Darden Sports Group’s “Letter of Intent” to buy part of the Dream from Abair’s company. Abair testified she had never seen that document or never had any discussions about that subject matter.

Prosecutors say Darden, 50, “is a lifelong fraudster.” His rap sheet includes convictions for larceny and fraud stemming from his work as a financial advisor for investment firms. He has a record of stealing millions of dollars from clients. Among his misdeeds were tricking an investor to pay $450,000 for a “purported boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and another professional boxer” and a scheme involving a supposed NBA exhibition game in Asia. In those frauds he impersonated his dad.

The U.S. Probation Office recommends that Broderick sentence Darden to 121 months (just over 10 years) in prison. The office’s report stresses that Darden relied on sophisticated means—such as shell companies, moving money between banks and a fraudulent pitch deck—to gain the trust of not only Howard and Parsons but also international banking institutions. Darden’s large theft of $8 million is likewise cited to support a lengthy sentence. 

Prosecutors also point out that Darden violated several conditions of his bail following his conviction last October. Those conditions included a prohibition on engaging in transactions involving assets worth more than $1,000 and remaining under house arrest. Darden, court documents detail, tried to buy a house last month when he texted a real estate agent in Atlanta saying he wanted to place an offer. He also tried to obtain a mortgage of $3.1 million and visited the house for sale in violation of his house arrest. Darden told his pretrial services officer he was going to the dentist, but his GPA monitor pinged at the house for sale. Darden’s bail was revoked two days before Christmas, and he was remanded to jail.

But Darden’s attorneys insist an appropriate prison sentence is 108 months (nine years). They underscore that Darden is “without any prior violent conduct” and “is not a member of any violent gangs.” Darden’s health issues, which include kidney problems and back pain, are also stressed. He has three children and elderly parents, whom his attorneys say “rely heavily on [Darden] for their care.” Moreover, given that Darden would be close to 60 years old if released after 108 months, he “would be aged out of criminal behavior” and “primarily concerned with his health and providing for his family.”

Prosecutors aren’t convinced by those arguments. They contend Darden stealing money from Howard and Parsons is just like his previous thefts: He is “driven entirely by greed.” As prosecutors tell it, Darden’s “entire adult life” has shown he’s “willing to defraud innocent victims to get money to buy those things.”

As to the contention that Darden will “age out” of criminal conduct, prosecutors note that he was still engaged in criminal conduct at age 50, “long past the point when many young people stop committing crimes.” In addition, prosecutors allude, financial fraud is not a criminal act limited to younger people.

The Dream, like other WNBA teams, has seen its value climb in recent years. Last year Sportico valued the Dream at $55 million.