A Fayetteville man has been charged with bilking about $400,000 from various colleges and universities who were counting on his company for overseas travel arrangements for their sports teams, U.S. prosecutors said.
Dale Brannan, 65, is charged with bank fraud, mail fraud, bankruptcy fraud and one count of making a false declaration in a bankruptcy filing, officials said. He was indicted by a federal grand jury Sept. 13, and faces up to 50 years in prison and fines up to $500,000.
A federal indictment asserts that Brannan ran a company called Transports Athletics, and from Sept. 2006 through July 2008, he contracted to arrange airfare and hotel reservations for several schools’ sports teams to travel to China, Finland, Italy and Brazil.
The indictment alleges that Brannan used those funds to pay the costs of trips for other schools who had previously contracted with Transports and also to pay Brannan’s personal expenses.
Shortly before the various teams were to depart, Brannan notified them that Transports would file for bankruptcy, and their trips were cancelled.
Brannan’s scheme bilked not just the schools, but also parents of student-athletes and fans, officials said.
The indictment further alleges that Brannan failed to disclose certain transfers and creditors in the bankruptcy filing, and that in bankruptcy Brannan avoided having to repay the debts owed to the victim universities.
Schools allegedly defrauded by Brannan included the University of Mexico, Kansas State University, Oakland University, Stonehill College and Minnesota State University-Mankato.
Prosecutors said after notifying those schools of their trips being cancelled, Brannan founded a new company called Sports Tours and Tournaments Specialists, also known as STATS, and began arranging all-new trips for other universities.
The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shanya J. Dingle.
