Sport institute head sentenced to 15 years for embezzlement

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) A former boxing promoter, ex-college basketball coach and founder of a Rhode Island-based sport institute who was convicted of embezzlement has been sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison, with seven years to serve and the remainder suspended with probation.

Dan Doyle of the Institute for International Sport was convicted in December after a nearly three month trial of seven counts of embezzlement, one count of obtaining money under false pretenses, five counts of forgery, and five counts of filing a false document.

Prosecutors say the 68-year-old West Hartford resident used the institute as a personal piggybank, taking out money to cover the cost of college tuition, plastic surgery, and wedding expenses for his children.

Investigators say Doyle embezzled approximately $1.14 million from the institute, a nonprofit he founded in 1986 with the mission to use sports and the arts to forge relationships on a global scale and to address societal issues.

Of the Institute's programs, one of the best known was the World Scholar Athlete Games held at the University of Rhode Island.

Doyle had sought a new trial. A judge denied that motion earlier this year.

Doyle was also ordered to pay $550,000 in restitution to the Hassenfeld Foundation and was ordered to undergo an evaluation for counseling.

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said Thursday that Doyle ''bilked honest and admirable individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and destroyed the mission and purpose of the International Institute of Sport, which he founded, in order to sustain a lifestyle he felt he was entitled to.''