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September 22, 2006

Former OU football star receives jail sentence

The Edmond Sun

EDMOND — Former University of Oklahoma Sooner and NFL football player Adrian Cooper was sentenced Monday to more than six years in federal prison for securities fraud and money laundering, U.S. Attorney John C. Richter announced.

Cooper, 37, of Edmond, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ralph Thompson to serve 75 months as well as pay almost $1 million in restitution to his victims.

“This sentence should serve as a stern reminder to those who prey on individual investors for their own illicit gain,” Richter said. “Tough, predictable securities law enforcement, like in this case, not only protects investors, but contributes to our nation’s economic health.”

Last November, Cooper was indicted on charges of securities fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and the use of false Social Security numbers. Cooper was a stock broker at Merrill Lynch from 1999 until August 2004. From December 2002 until he left Merrill Lynch, Cooper defrauded individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by directing them to send money to him or to third parties for the purchase of stock, according to an IRS press release.

Called a “Ponzi’ scheme,” by the Oklahoma Securities Commission, Cooper represented returns to investors as being funded through the success of an underlying venture when the payments actually were funded with money from new investors.

Instead of investing the funds entrusted to him, Cooper allegedly used it for personal expenses and to make payment to other investors, according to the OSC.

The indictment did not allege any wrongdoing on the part of Merrill Lynch.

Cooper pled guilty to the securities fraud and money laundering counts of the indictment in March.

At the sentencing hearing Monday, the court took into consideration Cooper’s status as a registered securities broker at the time of the offense, the need to deter similar conduct and other factors before sentencing Cooper to 75 months, followed by five years supervised release and 104 hours of community service. Judge Thompson also ordered Cooper to pay $968,656 in restitution to victims.

Cooper played tight end for the OU in the early 1990s and played six seasons in the National Football League.

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