Biden commutes Nevin Shapiro, University of Miami booster convicted in $930 million ponzi scheme

By Hunter Geisel

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    MIAMI (WFOR) — Nevin Shapiro, a former University of Miami booster who was convicted of swindling investigators in a $930 million Ponzi scheme, was among the nearly 1,500 people whose prison sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden this week, CBS News Miami has learned.

On Thursday, Mr. Biden granted clemency consisting of 39 pardons and 1,499 commutations, including Shapiro. The former UM booster was convicted on federal security fraud and money laundering charges over a decade ago and ordered to pay nearly $83 million in restitution.

Shapiro’s scheme

Shapiro’s Ponzi scheme was based on an organization he found called Capitol Investments USA, which he claimed would purchase wholesale groceries and then sell them upmarket. During that time, he became an influential booster at UM.

His rogue behavior sparked an NCAA investigation in 2010 when he told the organization that he plied high-profile UM athletes with $170,000 in gifts and other benefits. He also tried to get football players to sign up with a startup sports agency he was involved with.

Throughout the probe, the NCAA found that the university had lacked institutional control and that Shapiro’s shady dealings led to sanctions against the school. Following the investigation, Shapiro was convicted on the federal charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2011.

In 2013, the NCAA put UM on probation for three years and took away dozens of athletic scholarships as a result of its probe.

In 2020, Shapiro was transferred out of prison while then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr ordered prisons to move some at-risk inmates into home confinements at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shapiro met the guidelines for release because he had served more than half of his sentence and had high blood pressure and a heart condition.

According to CBS News Miami’s partners at The Miami Herald, Shapiro sought compassionate release from the remainder of his sentence, which he had been serving in home confinement since his 2020 transfer.

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