Federal prosecutors have accused a D.C. sports promoter and business partner of former University of Maryland basketball star Steve Francis of using a shell corporation to avoid paying more than a half-million dollars in taxes, according to court records.
Nathan A. Peake, a manager and business partner of Francis, an NBA all-star, has been charged with tax evasion for allegedly failing to pay $509,000 in income taxes from 2002 to 2007. Peake also tried to hide his taxable income from the Internal Revenue Service by using shell corporations and by paying for his personal and business expenses in cash, prosecutors said in court filings.
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Peake could face up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted.
Details of the alleged tax scam were not available in court documents, but Peake is expected to provide the particulars during a plea hearing scheduled for Aug. 20. His attorney, Danny C. Onorato, declined to comment on the case because it was still ongoing.
Peake owns and operates several companies in the Washington area, most notably Peake Management Group, a sports and entertainment management firm with clients such as Denver Nugget rookie Ty Lawson and heavyweight boxer Tony Thompson.
Peake was managing some local boxers in 1996 when Takoma Park basketball phenom Steve Francis asked him to help him get into a college. After Francis finished a year at the University of Maryland, Peake and his partner agent Jeff Fried, relative unknowns in the sports management industry, engineered the biggest trade in NBA history — a three-team, 11-player deal that sent Francis from the Vancouver Grizzles, who drafted him, to the Houston Rockets.
Francis is now president of Peake Management Group Boxing, working out deals with HBO and boxing promoter Don King. Francis and Peake were also principal owners of D.C. clothing company We R One, along with NBA stars Sam Cassell and Nick Van Exel, according to the company’s Web site.
