Michael Rowan, Wire Fraud, North Carolina 2016

A High Point businessman has been sentenced to prison for stealing approximately $2.9 million from NFL players who trusted him with their finances.

Michael Rowan, 46, operated Capital Management Wealth Advisors Inc. (CMG) and APS Management LLC (APS), along with his business partner.

According to court documents, Rowan provided financial and investment services to professional athletes, including National Football League (NFL) players.

He would contact prospective NFL players in college to offer them financial and wealth management services, including bill payment, investment services, and financial guidance.

Once players were drafted by the NFL, Rowan agreed to provide his services to them for an annual fee of between $15,000 and $50,000.

However, Rowan misused his access and transferred more than $2.9 million into accounts he controlled for his own personal benefit and without his clients’ knowledge or consent.

Rowan also failed to report more than $1.4 million of the embezzled funds on his federal tax returns, causing a loss to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of more than $479,000.

“Michael Rowan betrayed his NFL football player clients by abusing the trust they placed in him as their financial advisor,” said Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg.

“He diverted millions of their money to his personal benefit and then cheated the IRS by failing to pay $479,000 in taxes he owed on his illegal income.”

Rowan pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing a false tax return in October 2016 and was sentenced to 65 months in prison.

The court also ordered Rowan to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution in the total amount of more than $3.4 million, including $2,960,295 to the victim clients and $479,352 to the IRS.

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