Nevin Karey Shapiro (born April 13, 1969) is a convicted felon who received a 20-year prison sentence for orchestrating a $930 million Ponzi scheme.
[3] In 2003, his business grew quickly through connections with Sherwin Jarol in Chicago, Craig Currie in New Jersey, and Sydney "Jack" Williams, who had real estate in Naples, Florida and Indianapolis.
Shapiro allegedly rented his yacht to NBA players Shaquille O'Neal, Dwyane Wade, and Kevin Garnett and pledged $150,000 to the University of Miami to have his name placed on the student lounge.
Shapiro, who was 51 at the time, was aided by having served over 50 percent of his sentence, while also demonstrating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and hypertension, both of which put him at a higher risk of life-threatening complication if he were to contract coronavirus.
[3] Shapiro was reported to have spent $2 million from 2002 to 2010 boosting University of Miami sports, primarily football, but also included contact with the basketball team under Frank Haith.
sports writer Charles Robinson conducted over 100 hours, Shapiro made good on his promise for revelations, exposing a lack of NCAA-mandated institutional oversight at the university that apparently allowed his illegal and unethical behavior to continue unimpeded for years.
To date, 72 University of Miami football players are alleged by Shapiro to have received impermissible benefits from him between 2002 and 2010, including Wilfork, Jon Beason, Antrel Rolle, Devin Hester, Willis McGahee, and the late Sean Taylor.
[1] In response to the allegations, the University of Miami imposed significant penalties on itself, including the suspension of eight football players, and removed itself from post-season bowl contention for one year.
On October 22, 2013, after a two-and-a-half year of investigation, the NCAA announced that the University of Miami football team would be docked three scholarships in each of the next three seasons, a three-year probation, recruiting restrictions, a five-game suspension for the Miami Hurricanes men's basketball coach, and a two-year show-cause order on a total of three former assistant football and basketball coaches.