Anthony Hutchison Convicted for Running $6M Fraud to Pay off Gambling Debts

A former NFL pro has been convicted after allegedly organizing a multi-million fraud scheme. To make matters worse, he is said to have also engaged in bribery.

Hutchinson Defrauded the HISD out of $6M

Anthony Hutchison, a former running back for the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills, has been accused of defrauding the Houston Independent School District (HISD) out of $6 million. According to the complaints, he has also conspired with the district’s former chief operating officer, Brian Busby, regularly overcharging the district for landscaping services.

The jury understood that Hutchinson conspired with Busby and other HISD officials, bribing them to award HISD contracts to his personal landscaping company, Southwest Wholesale. Prosecutors understood that he overbilled the district for supplies and added extra costs the money from which he pocketed.

The fraud, which ran from 2013 to 2019, cost the HISD some $6 million. Busby alone is said to have received $530,000 from Hutchison for his facilitation of the scheme.

As it turns out, the reason for the fraud might have been gambling debts.

Hutchinson Struggled with Bad Gambling Habits

The prosecutors argued that Hutchison needed the proceeds from the fraudulent scheme to pay off his gambling debts. The former NFL pro, now 64, is reportedly an avid gambler who has accumulated huge gambling debts over the years.

Among other things, he was an active, albeit not very good poker player. Poker pro Ayaz Mahmood testified for the case and described Hutchinson as a poor poker player who could not control his impulses and lost regularly.

To make matters worse, Hutchinson was reportedly very bad at controlling his spending, sometimes losing as much as $300,000 in a single day.

The Player and His Accomplice Risk Time in Prison

The court convicted Hutchinson of 1 count of conspiracy, 11 counts of wire fraud, 6 counts of bribery, 2 counts of filing false tax returns and 1 count of witness tampering.

Busby, on the other hand, has been convicted of 1 count of conspiracy, 6 counts of bribery involving federal funds, 5 counts of filing false tax returns and 1 count of witness tampering.

For context, the witness tampering convictions stem from the two men’s alleged efforts to convince a former manager of the Facilities, Maintenance, and Operations Department at the HISD to lie to the FBI.

Because of the severity of their crimes, both Hutchinson and Busby face prison time.

Another NFL Player Faces a Lawsuit for Rape

Anthony Hutchison, however, is not the only former NFL player to find himself in hot water. In Las Vegas, plaintiffs launched a lawsuit against Shannon Sharpe, an NFL hall-of-famer, arguing that he raped a young woman.

Sharpe, who was in a relationship with the woman in question, was allegedly very controlling and threatened her on numerous occasions.

Sharpe, however, denied the allegations, saying that the woman was not being truthful and was just trying to capitalize on her relationship with him. He published an excerpt of a chat in which she asked him to tie her up like a dog.