Father of Shabazz Muhammad indicted on federal charges

Ronald Holmes, the father of former UCLA star and likely NBA Draft lottery pick Shabazz Muhammad, has been indicted on federal fraud charges, the Los Angeles Times reports.

According to the indictment, Holmes and a number of unnamed associates obtained “mortgage loans by fraudulent means to buy houses,” from 2006 to 2009. Holmes was detained Thursday in Las Vegas and has pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, as well as counts for conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud.

This is not the first instance of Holmes finding trouble with the law. In an extremely similar story from 2000, Holmes was sentenced to six months of house arrest for fraud involving multiple mortgages in Los Angeles County that were obtained using false information.

Holmes, a standout basketball player at USC in the 1980s, also made major headlines in late March when an LA Times story detailing his grooming of Muhammad revealed that Holmes had lied about his son’s age for an extended period of time. Though the UCLA media guide stated Muhammad’s age as 19-years-old, he was actually 20.

Muhammad is projected by most experts to be a lottery pick in next month’s NBA Draft. He averaged 17.9 points per game in his first and only season at UCLA.

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