A well-known Washington-area sports manager has sentenced to three years in prison for hiding income to avoid paying more than $1 million in taxes.
Nathan A. Peake, 41, of Silver Spring, admitted in federal court in the District that he didn't file tax returns from 2000 through 2007 and diverted about $5.8 million in management and agent fees from his business to personal accounts.
He also admitted to misappropriating proceeds from a $3.5 million line of commercial credit that one of his athlete clients guaranteed and paid off.
"Nathan Peake's efforts at tax evasion were much less successful than the careers of the professional athletes he managed," said U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. "Today's sentence sends the unmistakable message that everyone -- especially those bringing in millions in income -- must pay their fair share."
In addition, Peake and others conspired to provide false information to several mortgage lenders over a nine-year period regarding Peake's employment, income, rental receipts and obligations to the federal government. This included fabricated letters that falsely represented that Peake had filed federal income tax returns, reporting self-employment wages, which had been reviewed by a certified public accountant.
A co-defendant in the case, Gregory L. McCormick, 58, also of Silver Spring, was convicted by a jury in June of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and obstruction of justice.
Peake owns and operates several companies in the Washington area, most notably Peake Management Group.
Peake was the manager and business partner of Steve Francis, a former University of Maryland basketball star who later played for the Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and New York Knicks.
Peake was managing some local boxers in 1996 when Takoma Park basketball phenom 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, both relative unknowns in the sports management industry, engineered the biggest trade in NBA history. The three-team, 11-player deal that sent Francis from the Vancouver Grizzles, who had just drafted him, to the Houston Rockets.
