Castroneves indicted on tax evasion charges

Helio Castroneves, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and TV “Dancing With the Stars” champion, was indicted Thursday on tax evasion and tax fraud charges, accused of using offshore accounts to hide millions of dollars in income from the Internal Revenue Service.

The 33-year-old driver is charged with conspiracy and six counts of tax evasion for purportedly failing to report to the IRS about $5.5 million in income between 1999 and 2004, according to court documents. Each count carries a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Also facing charges are Katiucia Castroneves, the driver’s sister and business manager, and attorney Alan R. Miller of Birmingham, Mich. All three are scheduled to make court appearances today, and it wasn’t immediately clear if they had hired defense lawyers.

PRO BASKETBALL

NBA: Only Donaghy broke rules

A review of the NBA’s officiating program found no evidence of illegal activity by any referee other than Tim Donaghy, though it recommended significant changes for monitoring gambling and game integrity.

The report, compiled over 14 months by former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz and released Thursday, called for the creation of a “culture of compliance” and closer monitoring of games for suspicious activity.

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New York Knicks forward Jared Jeffries broke his left fibula at practice and is expected to sit out at least six weeks.

GOLF

Overton takes one-shot lead

Jeff Overton shot a five-under 67 to take the first-round lead at the PGA’s Turning Stone Resort Championship at Verona, N.Y. He has a one-shot lead over Michael Allen and Steve Allan.

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Ji-Yai Shin shot a five-under 67 to take the first-day lead in the LPGA Samsung World Championship at Half Moon Bay, Calif. She is one shot ahead of Paula Creamer.

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U.S. Ryder Cup star Anthony Kim took a two-shot lead at the Korea Open with a seven-under 64 at Seoul.

PRO FOOTBALL

Bears suspend Harris for game

The Chicago Bears suspended defensive tackle Tommie Harris for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Lions.

Coach Lovie Smith said that Harris broke a team rule, but he didn’t immediately explain what it was.

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The Minnesota Vikings probably will be without standout middle linebacker E.J. Henderson on Monday night at New Orleans. The swelling in Henderson’s two dislocated toes has not subsided since he suffered the injury to his left foot in Sunday’s game against Tennessee.

TENNIS

Venus advances to quarterfinals

Venus Williams reached the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals by defeating Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-4, 6-2, at Stuttgart, Germany.

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Andy Roddick and David Ferrer advanced to the quarterfinals of the Japan Open at Tokyo. Top-seeded Ferrer recovered from a slow start to defeat wild card Takao Suzuki, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and second-seeded Roddick downed Jurgen Melzer, 7-6 (2), 6-2.

MISCELLANY

Probst to succeed Ueberroth

Barely two weeks after being named to the U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors, Lawrence Probst has been elected as its new chairman. He is the chairman of the board of Electronic Arts (EA), the world’s leading video games company.

He succeeds Peter Ueberroth as chairman.

Ueberroth, 71, will remain with the USOC as honorary president through the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

He will continue working closely with Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid and probably will have a much larger role in that area than Probst.

Ueberroth took over as USOC chairman in June 2004, after the USOC had been dragged into Congress and told to clean up its act after a decade of turnover in the organization’s salaried and volunteer leadership.

--Philip Hersh

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UCLA will play Prairie View A&M; about 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at Pauley Pavilion in the first round of the 2K Sports Classic basketball tournament, just after Miami of Ohio plays Weber State at 4:15 p.m. at Pauley.

The winners will play at 8 p.m. Nov. 13 for the right to advance to the tournament semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

The three other first-round host schools in the 16-team tournament are Duke, Michigan and Southern Illinois.

Duke’s four-team pod will have Georgia Southern playing Houston and Duke meeting Presbyterian on Nov. 10; Michigan will play Michigan Tech and IUPUI will meet Northeastern on Nov. 11; and Southern Illinois will play California of Pennsylvania with Arkansas Monticello getting Massachusetts on Nov. 11.

The semifinal games in New York will be Nov. 20 at 4 p.m., with the UCLA pod winner against the Michigan winner. The consolation and title games will be Nov. 21 beginning at 2 p.m.

-- Diane Pucin