52-year-old Washington man Christopher Harrison, who had a brief career in the National Football League before becoming a real estate developer, is now facing charges in an embezzlement case.
On Tuesday, October 15, 2024, authorities charged him with embezzling loan proceeds intended for his two commercial real estate projects, the Model Tobacco Project in Richmond and the Whitaker Park Project in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office- Department of Justice (DOJ), Christopher took $14,492,057 in loans from Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust (CRBT) for his Model Tobacco Project and $7,706,675 for the Whitaker Park Project.
But instead of fulfilling the loan intent, he allegedly used it for his personal needs. In this regard, documents from DOJ states,
Under the terms of the loan agreements, Harrison was prohibited from using loan proceeds to pay himself or affiliated entities any construction, management, development, or contractor fees or from using the loan proceeds for personal expenditures.
Via DOJ
A former NFL player allegedly used over $60,000 just to buy Rolex Watches from Lenkersdorfer Fine Jewelers. The other expenses he did from his loan include,
His home mortgage, landscaping services for his residence, and tuition and tutoring expenses for his minor child. A separate construction project — the Petersburg Ramada Inn. For instance, Harrison allegedly used fraud proceeds to pay legal fees to a law firm for Harrison’s litigation against the City of Petersburg pertaining to the project….
Using a loan for personal benefit is one thing. He is even accused of fraud while applying for a loan.
Authorities said that Christopher skimmed loan proceeds, creating ‘a Straw demolition company named Virginia Demolition LLC, which had no office space, demolition equipment, or employees,’ per the documents.
Likewise, he is accused of forging another person’s signature in the documents he submitted to CRBT, calling the person the “President” of Virginia Demolition, LLC, but it was all untrue.
Christopher Harrison also allegedly tricked Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust (CRBT) with inflated invoices so that he could receive over $3.6 million in loan funds.
Harrison allegedly submitted over a dozen falsified invoices and lien waivers in draw requests to induce CRBT to disburse over $3.6 million in loan proceeds to Harrison to satisfy purported expenditures.
With all these accusations in an embezzlement case, Christopher Harrison is facing charges of:
- Wire fraud and mail fraud
- Engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property
- Aggravated identity theft
The first two charges can result in Christopher’s imprisonment for 30 years, and the third charge carries a minimum sentence of two years.
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Christopher Harrison was born in Washington, DC, on February 25, 1972. He is currently 52 years old.
- He graduated from St. John’s College and then played at the University of Virginia.
- Christopher played guard for the Detroit Lions. He is 6 feet and 3 inches tall and weighs 131 kg.
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