Former Treasurer of Foundation Supporting UH Athletics Guilty of Fraud

Here’s a sad tale ofevents all too close to my home.  In Ex-UHBooster Fund Treasurer Pleads Guilty to Fraud, the Houston Chronicle reportsthat Brian Bjork, once an investment counselorand associate of the late David Salinas of Ponzi scheme fame, has entered aplea of guilty in a federal wire fraud case in which he was alleged to havemisappropriated $550,000 from the Houston Athletics Foundation.  The charity is described as “an independentlyadministered booster fund for UH athletics.” The Chronicle reports the details of the scam as follows:

Bjork,according to the plea agreement, opened a bank account in which he siphoned offmoney from current and former family members – in one case, a recent widow -allegedly for investment in Salinas’ corporate bonds or pawn shops that Salinasowned, but actually for his own use. He also wrote fictitious accountstatements, prosecutors said.

Also, usinghis position as treasurer of the Houston Athletics Foundation … Bjork deposited about$550,000 of HAF funds into the account, according to the prosecutors.

The storyexplains that evidence of the fraud was uncovered during the government’s investigationof Salinas – an investigation “which hasresulted in claims of more than $50 million by creditors who purchasednonexistent corporate bonds from Salinas and his companies Select AssetManagement and the J. David Group of Companies.”

Foradditional coverage of the story in the Boston Herald, see here.

JRB