Tag: Craig Carton

My Thoughts On The Craig Carton Verdict And His Fall From Grace

Ny Post – A Manhattan federal jury has convicted sports radio personality Craig Carton of fraud — setting the fallen “Boomer and Carton” co-host up for some hard prison time when he is sentenced next year.

After less than a day of deliberations, a jury of three men and nine women found Carton guilty on all three counts against him, including securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.

Carton looked straight ahead as the guilty verdicts were read while his wife, who was sitting in the courtroom with other supporters, held back tears.

“I need to let it sink in now,” he told reporters outside the courthouse. “I’m going to go home and hug my kids and let my lawyers deal with the rest of it.”

His lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, said he will appeal the verdict.

Carton, 49, was released on bail but ordered to return for sentencing on Feb. 27. He faces as much as 45 years in prison based on the sentencing guidelines but will likely get far less.

The Westchester native was one of the biggest names in sports radio when he was arrested last year and charged with defrauding investors of a bulk ticket business he had been running with Michael Wright, who has pleaded guilty.

Crazy news in the New York sports media. Craig Carton was found guilty on all three counts of fraud today and faces a maximum of 45 years in prison. I don’t think he’ll receive the max, but there’s no way he doesn’t go to prison for some time. I still can’t believe this is happening. In a way, Craig Carton’s fall from grace has felt like an understatement in the New York sports media. I’m shocked at how little press there has been for this saga. Carton was still doing a show on Fantasy Sports Network up until a few weeks ago despite having this looming black cloud over his head. If you’re not from the tristate area, it’s hard to comprehend just how much WFAN means to sports fans including myself. Boomer and Carton, Joe and Evan, and Mike Francesa were staples on The Fan for the past decade. These are voices you wake up to and listen to throughout the day for opinions on New York sports.

I still cannot get over some of these details. Between taking loans from strip club owners to funding expensive casino trips, it has all the makings of a movie script. It reminds me of the modern day Catch Me If You Can.

NY Post – At trial, the feds called a hedge fund executive who said his firm gave Carton more than $5 million at various points in 2016 to invest in tickets to Metallica and Barbara Streisand concerts.

In order to win the money, Carton fabricated contracts and emails, including one email presented at trial that was doctored by Carton to look like it had come from Fred Mangione, chief of staff of Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Barclays Center and the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the evidence showed.

At the time of the fraud, Carton was spending big bucks at casinos — even borrowing money from loan sharks to fund his casino trips, according to witness testimony.

One of the loan sharks, Desmond Finger, a general manager of Upper East Side strip club Sapphire 39, told the jury he gave Carton several high-interest loans of as much as $500,000 a pop to finance his casino trips in 2016 and 2017.

500K? My god. I can’t even spend $100 at a bar without hating myself the next day.

It’s so weird to me how this all played out. For almost a year, Carton was claiming innocence. Carton said that he was “unequivocally not guilty” of what he was being charged with. Then, the evidence was presented at the case and Carton went silent. I’m not an expert, but it looked like an open and shut case to the average person. His lawyer’s remarks in the closing argument stunned me.

NY Daily News – “Craig was wrong ever to lie. He was wrong ever to misrepresent. He should be ashamed,” Gottlieb said.

After all of the innocent talk, Carton’s lawyer flat out said Carton lied. No way around it. It’s one of those situations where one lie turns into another lie which turns into a web of lies and before you can get out, it’s too late.

Should you feel bad for Carton? Can you feel bad for Carton? I’ll say this. I feel awful for his wife and family. This decision sets his family back for years to come and that’s gut-wrenching. I also feel a little bad for Carton for the fact that he couldn’t beat his addiction. Nothing worse than wasted talent. Carton was such a unique sports media personality and although I wasn’t the biggest fan, I could respect what he was trying to do in terms of being the Howard Stern of NY sports media. That all went away with this court case.

That being said, Carton is a liar and a fraud who committed a federal crime. That’s not my words. The courts said those two phrases. Carton stole money from investors and never paid it back. That’s a crime and to those investors, justice was served. I can’t feel bad for someone who stole money and committed fraud for their own personal benefit.

Wishing the best for his wife and family.

Mike Francesa Has To And (I Think) Will Stay At WFAN

SI

New York Post – So you’re saying there’s a chance?

In the wake of WFAN morning co-host Craig Carton’s arrest and subsequent suspension last week, Mike Francesa, who is set to leave the station after 30 years when his contract expires Dec. 15, has told station management he is at least willing to discuss postponing that move.

“The only thing I said is that … I would not turn my back on the company if I thought it was in trouble,” Francesa told The Post in a phone conversation Tuesday. “That’s something that had to play out in the weeks and months ahead. And I don’t really know if it is [in trouble], so I don’t know if that’s going to mean anything. “Has this changed things? It has created some conversations. I don’t know that it has changed anything. I would say my gut feeling is no, but I would say that it has at least created conversations that weren’t there before.”

NO MORE FAN…Until they ask me to help save the station and in that case, IM BAK.

What a wild, wild couple of days for WFAN. This all started when Craig Carton was arrested for a ticket fraud / ponzi scheme last week. That was a absolute BOMBSHELL. I’ll save my opinion on Carton because there’s nothing really to say anymore. He messed up and now has to pay and deal with all the consequences of his actions. I just feel so bad for his family and Boomer.

So fast forward to this story the other day . Mike said “I would not turn my back on the company if I thought it was in trouble.” Michael, the company is in trouble. YOUR station is in trouble. I love Boomer but unless they get a huge name to pair with him in the morning, his ratings are going to take a dip. It is truly a shame too because Boomer & Carton were just ranked first in the winter ratings for men in NY for their time slot. With Carton resigning just last night (NO surprise there), it is now officially Boomer’s Morning Show.

Logistically speaking, your two most important time slots for a radio station are your morning drive and your afternoon drive. Boomer & Carton and Mike Francesa were always at the top of the ratings especially Mike, who going back to his days with Mad Dog, has dominated the for over two decades. NUMBAH ONE. Now, time for common sense. You cannot go through two major changes at the same time for the morning show and the afternoon show. It just can’t happen. You’re sacrificing so much by doing that – advertising dollars, ratings, etc. Going through one transition is hard enough, but two at the same time? That just can’t happen and you know what, I think Mike knows that.

This is exactly why I think Mike Francesa is going to stay at least one more year at WFAN. He has to give WFAN time for Boomer’s morning show to grow / improve / adjust. I also think the bigger elephant in the room to address is Mike’s replacement. In my opinion. there is no clear candidate as of now. No one truly stood out from the rest. I know they’ll cut Mike’s time in half and I’m almost positive Joe & Evan will take one of those slots, but the second one? Your guess is as good as mine. Carton’s troubles are not a blessing in disguise because of the ramifications for his family, but it bought the station more time to figure out an official replacement for Mike.

Oh, did I mention why Mike will come back besides saving the station?

The checkbook is now open at WFAN. I know it’s probably not entirely about money with Mike, but more money helps for sure. So if I’m Mike, on December 15, I’m giving a Wolf of Wall Street Speech. IM NOT LEAVING!!!THE SHOW GOES ON!! THIS IS MY HOME!

P.S. Who would’ve ever thought that Mike would outlast Carton at WFAN? I’ll say it again. Wild stuff, folks.

My Thoughts On Craig Carton And Where WFAN Goes From Here

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I have been thinking about this whole Craig Carton debacle. There are a lot of thoughts running through my mind. I’m not even sure what angle to come at this from. If I’m all over the place, I apologize. I’m still trying to make sense of it. I thought about Sid Rosenberg. Similar situation. Gambling issues, and other problems. Both guys would hardly sleep and work very early. Sid has rebounded, but he didn’t do what Craig did. I really can’t find a great comparison. If you think I’m going to get on him for getting in over his head when it comes to gambling, you’re wrong. You probably also don’t know me very well if that is what was expected.

I happened to feel that Ray Rice is probably a good guy who did something terrible when he was drunk. Not to get all into that case, but his wife decided to stay. He could not get back into the NFL. It’s in the past now. This isn’t the same. I would like to defend Craig, but I really can’t. It doesn’t seem like some misunderstanding. I have not heard any real defense from him or his side. He’ll probably just say that he has an addiction. Ripping people off isn’t okay. I thought about Michael Vick. He didn’t just make a mistake. Killing animals wasn’t some accident. I didn’t think of Vick like Ray Rice. To me it already seemed like Vick was a bad guy. Again, Carton was in a different situation. I can’t call it a great comparison. Sid is probably the best comparison I can come up with. Most of us have probably met at least one person who was basically a BS artist. You could not ever count on them. They would not show up when expected. Collecting money didn’t go well. They seemed to be the unluckiest person alive. Often that person was probably telling lies and covering up something.

Recently I saw a video where Craig spoke about Aaron Hernandez being dead and how basically a bad guy wasn’t around anymore. Trying to compare the two is probably a stretch, but two things come to mind here. First, Craig made a lot of enemies. He was quick to bash others and get on the bad side of writers, Mike Francesa, and numerous people involved in sports. Carton seems like quite a hypocrite for bashing the Wilpons and running his own Ponzi scheme Perhaps Carton’s rage, anger, and bitterness came from his issues. Now those people can have the last laugh or get revenge. Either vocally (including with printed words), or by just sitting back and privately chuckling. The other thing I get from this is there were signs. Craig would try to use a person’s money and win in blackjack. Those who worked with him would win bets and not collect. He often tried to broker some sort of deal. Carton gave out baseball picks despite saying he didn’t wager on baseball in recent years. Now I wonder if this was another lie. The guy would give out random basketball games and teams. Not too many guys who don’t bet would have knowledge and interest in a team like UT Arlington. The recent news also gives people a chance to reflect on his friendship with the controversial Chris Christie.

Last month I attended Craig’s softball game in New Rochelle. We had a brief exchange in the parking lot. I can’t say this has impacted me the way it would if Evan got in trouble. For those who don’t know, we hang out sometimes and sit together at games. Be jealous. Anyway, I never spoke to Carton on the air. I’m not going to pretend we were close. Still, I listened. Sometimes we’ll hear somebody on the radio regularly and feel like we know them. The gambling talk interested me. Even though quite frankly I felt like he was often wrong and did not know what he was talking about. In some ways he seemed more relatable than Francesa. Mike would often boast about his 30 years at WFAN. Staying out of trouble was a big part of this. There is something to be said for being in the public eye and not getting into legal trouble. I figured Carton made much more than the reported 250,000 per year that I saw. You would think his income could help him with financial trouble, but as people have said it seems like that just means you spend or bet more. Lottery winners end up broke. Athletes don’t pay taxes. It seems like the wealthy are often prone to more financial difficulty at some point.

Since Craig was selfish, I should be as well. My main concern is what happens to WFAN from here. I have no idea. It’s like the rest of this situation. I just can’t make sense of it. Shortly after the news came out I started to think about how this would give Mike a perfect opportunity to stay. This could be the unforeseen event that would give him an excuse. Minutes later a friend texted me something similar. Although I really don’t have any answers, it could open the door for someone like John Jastremski or Marc Malusis. Maybe not in the morning or afternoon slot, but doing the 10AM show as hosts would be needed for those prime positions. Gregg Giannotti could also be in the mix somewhere. Stay tuned.

WFAN’s Craig Carton Arrested In Alleged $2M Ticket Fraud Scheme

Spike

NBC New York – Craig Carton, co-host of WFAN’s morning sports talk show “Boomer & Carton,” has been arrested on investment fraud-related counts in connection with an alleged fake ticket scam. 

The FBI arrested Carton, 48, at his home in Manhattan early Wednesday, the sources said. He was allegedly involved in an investment scam through which he and another man claimed to be running a discount ticket broker business that never existed, according to the sources.

Oh my. This is actually wild news. The report from a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney’s Office confirmed that Carton was arrested and charged with wire and securities fraud. Not all of the details have been released yet, but the report is that Carton and another man ripped off a couple investors of a few million dollars.

Boomer started off the show this morning by saying Carton is “under the weather.” I’m actually in shock right now. If you live in the tristate area and love sports, Boomer and Carton are a staple on your morning commute. I don’t know where this will go from here and we obviously need the full report before any decisions are made, but this is a huge, huge development that a lot of people including myself will be invested in.