McNall to Go to Halfway House Next Week

Federal prison officials have approved a transfer itinerary for Bruce McNall, clearing the way for the former King owner to begin a six-month stay in a Los Angeles halfway house next week.

McNall, 50, went to prison in March 1997, to serve a 70-month sentence for two counts of bank fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy after he’d defrauded banks and other financial institutions of $236 million. He is in a correctional facility in Milan, Mich., about 50 miles southwest of Detroit.

“The halfway house is designed for him to get a job and reestablish himself in the community as a model citizen,” his attorney, Robert Geringer of Santa Monica, said Thursday. “Once he gets there, he gets assigned a job-placement counselor, though I’m not sure if that’s the exact term, and he’ll look for a job.”

While at the halfway house, McNall’s movements will be restricted. He will be permitted to work and travel to and from that job, but exceptions, such as doctor’s appointments, will have to be approved in advance.

McNall, always gregarious even when his empire began to crumble, won’t be allowed contact with reporters. He also must fulfill a restitution order of $5 million to the banks he defrauded.

Geringer said he hasn’t spoken to McNall recently, although they previously spoke regularly. Geringer did send new clothes for McNall to wear upon his transfer, because the once-burly McNall weighs about 170 pounds.

Geringer said McNall’s reluctance to talk might stem from fear of saying something that would derail the transfer.

“Up until the last day, [prison officials] disqualify people,” Geringer said. “The last time I talked to him, they had disqualified some people the day they were supposed to get transferred.”

McNall’s spectacular fall from riches to solitary confinement at Lompoc remains one of the most remarkable cautionary tales in sports. Once chairman of the NHL’s Board of Governors, owner of the Kings, the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts and an inventory of sports memorabilia and antiques, he was reduced to cutting tree limbs and stacking sandbags in prison.

Geringer hasn’t decided if he will escort McNall from Michigan to Los Angeles or will meet McNall’s plane here.

“My gut instinct is to grab him by the scruff of the neck and make sure he gets here,” Geringer said.