Ex-Sacramento Kings exec gets 7 years for siphoning $13.4M

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A former top Sacramento Kings executive was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison for siphoning $13.4 million from the team.

Jeffrey David, 44, the team's former chief revenue officer, pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

David diverted the sponsorship payments of five companies to a bank account he controlled from October 2012 through July 2016, using the money to buy and remodel Southern California beachfront properties, pay for a private jet membership and pay off credit card bills.

"The brazen scheme involved forgeries, stolen corporate executive identities, money laundering and even instructing a former colleague to destroy evidence," U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott said in a statement. "Today's sentence should deter others from committing substantial frauds such as this one."

David's lawyer, Mark Reichel, disagreed with the sentence from U.S. District Judge William Shubb.

"We see no appropriate purpose served by a sentence this lengthy," Reichel wrote in an email, citing David's "tremendous life work" before and after his crimes as cause for a reduced sentence.

"The Kings received back every single penny of the previously purloined money, and Mr. David worked very hard to make sure that happened. He is tremendously remorseful," Reichel said.

The Kings have received over $13.2 million in restitution to date, according to the Department of Justice.

David is scheduled to begin his sentence on Aug. 20.