Former Florida Gators football player and Miami native facing federal bank fraud charges
Former University of Florida football player and South Florida native Kadeem Telfort was indicted on federal charges, including bank fraud and aggravated identify theft, on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
The Gainesville Sun and Tallahassee Democrat first reported the indictment alleging Telfort, who played at Miami Booker T. Washington High, and several Florida State University students “conspired to defraud banks between July 1 and Oct. 31, 2017.”
Telfort, who most recently played football at a Kansas community college and announced his commitment to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, previously was accused of a separate credit card fraud scheme along with nine other UF football players in 2017.
Telfort pleaded no contest, completed two years of probation in February and adjudication of guilt was withheld in that case, Eighth Circuit State Attorney Bill Cervone told the Gainesville Sun.
Tuesday’s federal charges allege Telfort and FSU student Kh’lajuwon Amari deposited money from credit and debit cards that Murat unlawfully obtained from third parties into the FSU accounts of the FSU students, the Gainesville Sun reported.
“About $53,000 was illegally obtained,” the Gainesville Sun reported, to buy items from the FSU bookstore.
In addition to Murat and Telfort, who are both from Miramar, the following were listed in the indictment, according to the Tallahassee Democrat: “Voshon Howard, 22, of Miramar; Jada Tisean Barton, 22, of Titusville; Ariel Apperlyn Smith, 22, of Coral Springs; and Deshauan Antwaniece Sanders, 22, and Desiree Angel Ferreira, 20, both of Miami.”
Howard, Sanders and Smith are enrolled at FSU, while the others are former FSU students.
According to 247 Sports, “all defendants face a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud count, while Morat faces an additional two-year mandatory minimum prison sentence for each aggravated identity theft count.”
The jury trial is scheduled for August 17, 2020, in Tallahassee, according to 247 Sports.
This story was originally published July 1, 2020 at 1:11 PM.
