Sports academy coach used athletes’ tuition for gambling, OnlyFans, Florida cops say
The head coach of an internationally known basketball academy has been accused of squandering tuition payments on “gambling, personal vacations and OnlyFans subscriptions,” Florida investigators say.
Coach Roderick Wilmont skimmed the cash from housing funds at Mont Sports Academy in Orlando, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office said in a May 3 news release.
It was Tropical Escape Vacation Homes that first raised concerns, after failing to get thousands in past due rent from the school, officials said.
“Detectives ... obtained Coach Wilmont’s financial records, which show that parents of the players were sending him thousands of dollars each month for ‘tuition’ in the program,” the sheriff’s office reports.
“Some months, Coach Wilmont would have deposits of $45,000 into his bank account. A review of his banking records revealed that instead of paying for the housing he obtained for the players, he was spending thousands of dollars each month on gambling, personal vacations, and OnlyFans subscriptions.”
Mont Sports Academy’s “post grad basketball program” is intended to guide student athletes into successful sports careers. Students come from around the world to participate, the sheriff’s office said.
Tuition covers “housing, transportation, gym/practice rentals, food, and other related costs.”
Wilmont was $26,000 in arrears to two rental property companies when detectives initiated their investigation in December, officials said.
“Coach Wilmont told (one) company the money was wired and transferred to their bank account. ... When the business asked additional questions in an effort to identify the wire transaction, Coach Wilmont became uncooperative with them,” the sheriff’s office said.
Wilmont, 40, was arrested and charged with two counts of scheme to defraud and two counts of defrauding an innkeeper, officials said.
His academy biography reports he played for Indiana University from 2002 to 2007 and later did “stints on the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks’ rosters.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2024 at 1:04 PM with the headline "Sports academy coach used athletes’ tuition for gambling, OnlyFans, Florida cops say."