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Mehdi Belhassan, 53, of Tampa, Fla., was convicted last week after a six-day trial of two counts of wire fraud, the US Attorney for Massachusetts said. He was accused of stealing $380,000 from 303 families across the state and country and a $191,000 advance from an online payment company.
Belhassan ran the annual MB Sports Camps. In 2019, however, he collected parents' money like usual, but this time, ran away with it to pay for plastic surgery and "extravagant" Las Vegas vacations, authorities said.
Belhassan initially told parents the event would relocated from Curry College in Milton to Northeastern University in Boston. However, this wasn't true. Northeastern had told Belhassan that the facilities weren't available at the time, but he forged documents to secure money from payment processors and parents.
One parent told reporters in 2019, when Belhassan ran his rug pull, that she had paid nearly $1,000 for her son to improve his baseball skills.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy said his office would target scam artists who target hardworking families as they are just trying to help their children.
Mr. Belhassan preyed upon the trust of families, promising summer fun while plotting his own indulgence. He lured in, deceived, and betrayed over 300 families – diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars not to the promised camps, but to personal pursuits like plastic surgery and extravagant vacations at Las Vegas casinos.
Belhassan faces up to 40 years in prison when he is sentenced in January 2024.
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