Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade took rides on Shapiro's $1.5 million Riviera yacht. Shapiro, now jailed on federal charges, boasted of giving Shaquille O'Neal a pair of diamond-studded handcuffs as a birthday gift. Two sources recall a photo of the seven-foot-one NBA legend bench-pressing Shapiro like a dumbbell.

And when Shapiro's sometime dining companion Carlos Noriega, Miami Beach police chief, met U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder at South Beach's Prime 112 steakhouse, Shapiro was there to get his photo snapped with the nation's top law enforcement official, a police spokesman confirmed.

"He would always say, 'I have to go meet this NFL player or this NBA player, "' said Adam Meyer, a sports handicapper in Plantation who runs adamwins.com and said he advised Shapiro on sports bets. "If you go into the house, it's pictures of him with all different famous athletes. Dwyane Wade on the boat with their arms around each other. Shaq bench-presssing him."

Federal prosecutors say Shapiro used his wealth and prominent connections to bolster an image of a successful grocery broker selling stakes in lucrative import deals.

In reality, prosecutors claim, the 41-year-old's business existed mostly on paper for the past five years. They claim the scam cost roughly 60 investors at least $80 million.

Shapiro allegedly pocketed about $35 million -- enough to finance a voracious gambling habit, a $6 million Miami Beach mansion, and the personal bodyguards that were often spotted with Shapiro, according to court documents and interviews with people who know him.

Days after his arrest in New Jersey, a portrait is emerging of a man who pursued high-profile friends while trying to establish himself as a power broker in South Florida's sports circles. He spent $400,000 on Miami Heat floor seats, has a student-athlete lounge named after him at the University of Miami, and talked of starting his own sports management firm.

Court papers also describe a man who lost millions gambling on sports and handed out jewelry like cash, often to cover debts toward the end of the alleged scam. Last fall, investors successfully sued to force Shapiro into bankruptcy in an effort -- fruitless so far -- to collect money from him.

In a March 15 affidavit filed as part of Shapiro's bankruptcy case, he describes the fate of two rings worth more than $120,000 that he purchased in late 2008.

"One of the two rings was lost when it fell off a boat approximately one to two months after purchase, " Shapiro wrote, "while the other was given to Raul (no last name and contact information unknown) at Smith & Wollensky approximately one month after purchase."

Shapiro's lawyers have declined to comment on the case.

While the Shapiro business cycled through about $880 million since the alleged scam began in 2005, investors and creditors probably lost between $80 million and $120 million, said Joel Tabas, the Miami lawyer named trustee of the bankruptcy estates for both Shapiro and his company, Capitol Investments USA.

Tabas said prosecutors' estimate of Shapiro's $35 million windfall could be correct, citing Shapiro's costly lifestyle. "Just the carrying costs on the Miami Beach home on North Bay Road were $50,000 a month, " Tabas said.

The creditor roster in the bankruptcy cases lists $133 million in unsecured claims from about 100 creditors. Tabas said the list of creditors largely mirrors prosecutors' list of alleged fraud victims.