Two Arizona men were convicted Thursday of scamming $15 million from Long Island-based investors and NHL players in elaborate schemes over the past decade, including a con involving Sag Harbor real estate.
Phillip Kenner, a 46-year-old financial advisor, and Tommy Constantine, a 48-year-old race car driver, was found guilty of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy by a jury at Central Islip federal court.
“Driven by personal greed, Kenner and Constantine spent years lying to investors and stealing their money, and then attempted to conceal their fraud by repeatedly and brazenly avoiding responsibility, shifting blame, and scapegoating others,” said Kelly Currie, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Prosecutors said that Kenner bought the Sag Harbor property with $395,000 he took from a player’s line of credit without the victim’s permission and convinced another player to pay $375,000 for a 50 percent interest in the property that was later sold at a loss.
Kenner also allegedly solicited victims to invest $2 million in Hawaiian real estate, money that Kenner and Constantine used to pay for personal expenses; $1.4 million Eufora LLC, a prepaid debit card business, but diverted the funds elsewhere; and $4.1 million for Mexican land deals that instead paid for Constantine’s racecar and home.
Kenner had befriended a hockey player who was later drafted by an NHL team while the two enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate Troy, New York, and later advised other players when he worked at a financial firm in Boston, authorities said.
Kenner and Constantine face up to 20 years in prison when they are sentenced on Nov. 20. Several of the victims are also suing the suspects for the losses.
