Shabazz Muhammad’s NBA future clouded by father’s fraud charges
Thursday night’s revelation that Ronald Holmes, father of former UCLA hoops star Shabazz Muhammad, had been indicted in Las Vegas on mortgage fraud charges raises a number of questions.
The indictment, a copy of which can be found here, lays out a rough sketch of Holmes’ alleged scheme, which involved obtaining mortgages to buy and sell houses using fraudulent information and straw bidders from 2006 to 2009.
To pull off the fraud, Holmes, 51 years old and a former USC shooting guard, allegedly worked with several associates. But the indictment doesn’t name them, and it remains to be seen whether the U.S. attorney’s office for Nevada will pursue others. What is known is that Holmes served six months’ home arrest in 2000 after pleading guilty to a similar mortgage scam in Los Angeles County, as first reported in a Los Angeles Times report in March.
For hoops fans, the most important question is whether the news will affect Muhammad’s National Basketball Assn. draft status. This spring, the small forward declared for the league’s draft and he has been projected as a lottery pick – meaning among the first 14 players selected.
The charges against his father, however, cast yet another cloud over the dynamic scorer. The top-recruited player in the nation as a senior, he was suspended for UCLA’s first three games last fall following an National Collegiate Athletics Assn. investigation that found he received impermissable travel benefits while in high school.
And in March, this newspaper discovered that Muhammad was 20 years old, a year older than he and his father – as well as the UCLA media guide – had proclaimed him to be. In an interview at the time, Holmes initially denied his son was 20, saying “it must be a mistake.” Several minutes later, he changed his story and admitted Muhammad’s actual age.
Holmes said that he made enough money to pay for Catholic high school and luxury cars for his family from smart investments in real estate, but would not state what they were. In recent weeks, Muhammad has made statements in the press indicating he was distancing himself from his father.
Muhammad is his middle child. Holmes’ eldest, Asia Muhammad, is a professional tennis player and his youngest, Rashad Muhammad, is a high school senior who has committed to play basketball at San Jose State.
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