2 Alabama men sentenced after defrauding professional athlete for personal gain

ANNISTON, Ala. ( WIAT ) — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday the sentencing of two Alabama men for their roles in defrauding a professional athlete.

U.S. District Judge Corey L. Maze sentenced Anthony Lamon Frazier, 41, of Talladega, to 120 months in prison. He also sentenced 38-year-old Frederick Andre Spencer, of Birmingham, to serve 55 months.

Earlier in 2024 , Frazier was convicted on 24 counts of money laundering, four counts of structuring and three counts of tax fraud. Spencer was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, false statements on a loan application and wire fraud.

According to court documents, Frazier worked as a Talladega County tax assessor and used his county work truck for drug trafficking and money laundering between 2017 and 2020.

During this period, Frazier would deposit falsified postal money orders to launder his drug money into his business bank accounts. Frazier then structured these proceeds into bank accounts, avoiding reporting requirements for the U.S. Postal Service and PNC Bank.

At the same time, Frazier worked with Spencer on behalf of a professional athlete to create a sports marketing agency called “Head of Game.” The athlete, who was not named in the case, invested $500,000 into the venture and wired the money into the agency’s bank account Frazier held.

Over half of that money was immediately transferred by Fraizer into a bank account Spencer’s mother held for “Mom and Son’s Towing.” The duo then spent the athlete’s money on personal expenses throughout 2019 and 2020, such as luxury travel, dental bills and bulk cash withdrawals.

Frazier also used $100,000 of the “Head of Game” money to purchase a house in Atlanta, depositing the proceeds of its short sale in his own bank account. By mid-2020, almost all the initial $500,000 had been spent deceptively.

Alongside the two men’s sentencing, restitution orders of $500,000 and $239,316 were entered for two victims, along with an order of forfeiture.

As part of the same indictment, Spencer pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, false statements on a loan application and wire fraud for his role in submitting false loan materials under the Paycheck Protection Program. Through these cons, he obtained an unspecified amount of “COVID loan” money from the Small Business Administration.

This investigation is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, an independent component of the DOJ. The ATF, IRS-CI and USPIS investigated the case alongside the Talladega County Drug Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Garnett prosecuted the case.

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