A convicted stock swindler pretended to be his wealthy father as part of an elaborate scheme to dupe millions of dollars out of investors who thought they were buying Maxim magazine, federal authorities in Manhattan announced Thursday.
Calvin Darden Jr., whose dad is an influential businessman who once ran the US operations for UPS, surrendered himself to Secret Service agents Wednesday. He’s also accused of bilking a Taiwan-based company out of $500,000 in exchange for his promise to arrange a New York Knicks exhibition game in Taiwan. Darden Jr. allegedly lied by telling the company he and his father were in serious discussions with the NBA and the Knicks.
In the Maxim scheme, the feds say Darden, 39, tricked investors out of more than $8 million and attempted to steal another $20 million by claiming the cash was to fund the purchase of the popular lad mag, according to an indictment.
He was ordered held on $1 million bail Thursday after appearing in Manhattan federal court on wire fraud charges and faces up to 20 years in prison. If he makes bail, he is subjected to home confinement and forbidden from using a computer.
The feds say he carried out both schemes by concocting elaborate lies that also included phony emails and fabricated bank account statements. They say they found stacks of documents while searching his home that show he might have bilked investors in other schemes, as well.
Darden Sr. was once rated more influential in the black business world than Oprah Winfrey by Fortune magazine. He now sits on the board of several publicly traded corporations, including Coca-Cola.
The key element of Darden Jr.’s alleged scam involved convincing people that it was the elder Darden who was buying Maxim and parent company Alpha Media from Cerberus Capital.
Reps for Alpha in September issued a press release saying a “definitive purchase agreement “ between all the parties had been reached.
Industry veteran Bob Guccione Jr. was expected to be named as the new CEO of the publication.
Guccione told The Post Thursday he was promised he’d be running the magazine by Darden Jr. but never joined on since the deal never closed. “He was claiming he was in Atlanta and his dad was in the hospital,” said Guccione.
Guccione said he never inquired as to what was ailing the father, but said Darden Jr. had told him, “It was touch and go and the family was there [with the father].”
Now, Guccione says, “Maybe he was never sick. It sounds like it was total b.s.”
Darden Jr. has a checkered past. In 2005, he was convicted of stealing nearly $6 million from securities firms and investors, including former NBA star Latrell Sprewell and musician Nelly.
Following the conviction, he had to forfeit a multimillion-dollar mansion in Glen Cove, LI, and lost the leases on his Lamborghini and Porsche, which ran $200,000 a month.
The Post reported in December that negotiations by the Dardens to buy Maxim and Alpha Media had collapsed because Darden Jr. was about $10 million short of coming up with the cash he promised.
In federal court Thursday, Assistant US Attorney James Pastore called Darden “a flight” risk with a long rap sheet and asked that bail be denied. He said Darden Jr. effectively jump-started a “manhunt” for nearly 12 hours by first driving to a hotel in Teaneck, NJ when he should have been home to turn himself in, and then ditched his car before returning to New York.
Darden Jr.’s lawyer declined to comment on the charges but said he expects his client’s family to raise the bail money. He also declined to comment when asked whether Darden Sr. would pitch in.
No family members attended his court appearance. Darden Sr. did not immediately return a call for comment.