Fraud Charges Filed After College Hoops Team is Forced to Cancel Bahamas Trip

FAIRFAX, Va. — An Atlanta man has been arrested and charged with fraud after George Mason University’s men’s basketball team was compelled to cancel a trip to the Bahamas following a payment for travel that was never actually arranged.

Charges against Maurice Smith, 44, the CEO of the Eugene Toriko travel agency, were unsealed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va.

According to an FBI affidavit, George Mason paid nearly $160,000 for a team trip to the Bahamas scheduled for August, which was supposed to include a couple of exhibition games along with various sightseeing activities such as a catamaran tour.

The funds were paid to a sports marketing firm that had subcontracted with Smith’s company, as revealed in the affidavit.

The team had no choice but to cancel the trip a day before they were set to leave after discovering that all of their travel reservations had lapsed due to nonpayment.

The FBI affidavit asserts that Smith managed his travel agency like a Ponzi scheme, indicating that the money paid by the Virginia university was misappropriated for Smith’s personal expenditures and to issue partial refunds to earlier clients who had also faced cancellations of their travel plans.

Although Smith’s company was reached via email, there was no response by Friday. Court records also do not list any legal representation for him.

Smith reportedly sent a letter to the university in September, stating the cancellation was due to a “logistical error” and claimed he was “committed to learning from this experience and implementing stricter controls and procedures to prevent any future occurrences.”

Prosecutors have pointed out that the George Mason University Foundation has yet to receive any reimbursement for the funds.

George Mason University, located in Fairfax, Virginia, and a member of the Atlantic 10 conference, currently holds a record of 7-3.