Radio Host Craig Carton Found Guilty Of Fraud, Faces 45 Years In Prison

Former WFAN host Craig Carton, who pled not guilty to fraud charges after he was arrested last September for scamming investors out of millions of dollars through a concert ticket-selling enterprise in order to pay off his gambling debts, was found guilty on all charges today, the New York Post reported. He faces up to 45 years in prison.

The Post wrote:

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

Carton looked straight ahead as the jury read the verdict.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed last year against Carton, who previously co-hosted the show Boomer & Carton, he and his associates were accused of obtaining $5.6 million from investors by falsely claiming they could get millions of dollars in concert tickets at face value through agreements with promoters or venues. According to the lawsuit, the money went to pay off Carton’s gambling debt and other personal expenses. (Carton currently hosts a show on the FNTSY Sports Network called “Carton & Friends.”)

Hedge fund managers, who gave Carton money for the ticket enterprise, and a loan shark, who gave Carton money for gambling, testified in the one-week trial, according to the Post report:

One of those loan sharks was Desmond Finger, a general manager of Upper East Side strip club Sapphire 39, who told the jury he gave Carton several short-term, high-interest rate loans to finance his casino trips in 2016 and 2017. Finger lost money in 2017, however, when Carton failed to make good on a $500,000 loan, the strip club manager testified.

The men held a sit-down at the jiggle joint — along with Michael Wright, who has pleaded guilty to helping Carton’s fraud — but it went nowhere, Finger said.

Last year, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie blared his unequivocal support for Carton in an interview with USA Today.

“I asked him when this all broke to be honest with me and he said he has done nothing wrong and he is the victim here,” Christie said. “Craig has never lied to me before and so if a friend of mine tells me they are being wronged and I believe them.”

So much for that.