Houston booster group hit hard by Ponzi scheme

Published Dec. 18, 2011 5:14 p.m. ET

foxsports

A foundation that endows athletic scholarships at the University of Houston may have lost more than 40 percent of its listed assets because of investments in an alleged Ponzi scheme.

Records examined by The Associated Press show that the more than $2.2 million in assets lost by the Houston Athletics Foundation are among the most notable in a phony bond scheme allegedly orchestrated by David Salinas.

Salinas committed suicide in his suburban Houston home last July, just weeks before the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit detailing the alleged fraud.

The 60-year-old Salinas was a long-time member of the foundation's board as well as a financial adviser for college basketball coaches.

The foundation annually gives the university an amount equal to 5 percent of its assets.