Warrant Issued for Ex-Promoter

A warrant was issued Friday for the arrest of former boxing promoter Harold Smith.

The warrant was issued by Commissioner Patricia G. Schwartz in Van Nuys Municipal Court at the request of a former business partner of Smith’s, Chris Grant.

Grant says he lost $30,000 to Smith on several boxing projects, including a 1989 Randall, Fla., promotion and a contract transaction involving Woodland Hills boxer Tony Montgomery.

Smith was a boxing promoter until he was convicted in 1982 on federal bank embezzlement charges. He was charged with embezzling $21.3 million from Wells Fargo Bank, a case the FBI at the time called the largest computer fraud case in U.S. banking history.

Smith was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, served 5 1/2 years and was paroled in 1988. He has recently worked as a boxing adviser and consultant.

Grant said he won a $5,000 judgment from Smith in September and that Smith filed a motion to vacate the judgment. When Smith didn’t appear for a Friday court session, the warrant was issued.

Smith had also been scheduled to seek approval in Sacramento Friday from the California Athletic Commission for a license to operate a boxing gym in Los Angeles. But he notified the commission Wednesday that he wanted the matter postponed.

Contacted Friday, Smith denied that he owed Grant any money and called the charges “baseless.”