Entertainment

Ex-Producer for Houston, Kenny G Sentenced in Ponzi Case

Published

11 years ago

May 14, 2015

Producer Charles Huggins swindled investors out of millions through a diamond and gold mining scheme. (Swamibu/Wikipedia/CC BY 2.0)

Tom Hays, ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK (AP) — A former music producer who helped launch acts like Kenny G and Whitney Houston was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years behind bars for duping investors out of millions by claiming he had ties to West African diamond mines.

Prosecutors in federal court in Manhattan had sought more than two decades in prison for Charles Huggins in a scheme to steal more than $8 million from investors. They portrayed the 69-year-old defendant as a remorseless con man.

Huggins diverted investor money to one of his record labels and used it to pay for his $7,200-a-month Manhattan apartment, upkeep on a Mercedes Benz, restaurant tabs and clothes from expensive boutiques, according to court papers.

Huggins, of Edgewater, New Jersey, “acted out of pure greed, out of a desire to spend other people’s hard-earned money on himself,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Imperatore.

The defense argued that the loss was really about $2.3 million, and that Huggins deserved no more than six years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein agreed that evidence at Huggins’ 2014 trial exposed how he had done grievous harm to honest investors. But he called the government’s request for a sentence between 22 and 27 years excessive and instead imposed the 10-year term.

The judge had received several defense submissions supporting Huggins, including a video from his ex-wife, soul singer Melba Moore. Asked on Wednesday if he wanted to speak for himself, Huggins stood briefly and responded, “Your honor, at this time I have nothing to say.”

Huggins once managed Hush Productions and Orpheus Inc. in New York and worked with Houston and Kenny G early in their careers. When his music ventures hit hard times, he cooked up a scheme to convince dozens of investors across the United States that they would profit by letting him invest their savings in gold or diamonds mined in West Africa.

At his trial, one investor testified that she and her family invested $1.6 million after seeing his lavish apartment and meeting him at a hotel, where he described a personal relationship with the president of Liberia and showed her diamonds. Ex-NFL player Ken Hamlin also testified about being among the victims.

Besides funding his luxury lifestyle, a portion of the proceeds also “was used to make payments to other investors, as in a classic Ponzi scheme,” court papers said.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Reporter II

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

Published

7 days ago

January 2, 2026

Oakland Post

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Oakland Post: Week of December 24 – 30, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

Published

2 weeks ago

December 25, 2025

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Alameda County

Bling It On: Holiday Lights Brighten Dark Nights All Around the Bay

On the block where I grew up in the 1960s, it was an unwritten agreement among the owners of those row homes to put up holiday lights: around the front window and door, along the porch banister, etc. Some put the Christmas tree in the window, and you could see it through the open slats of the blinds.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

Christmas lights on a house near the writer’s residence in Oakland. Photo by Joseph Shangosola.

By Wanda Ravernell

I have always liked Christmas lights.

From my desk at my front window, I feel a quiet joy when the lights on the house across the street come on just as night falls.

My father, the renegade of the block, made no effort with lights, so my mother hung a wreath with two bells in the window. Just enough to let you know someone was at home.

Two doors down was a different story. Mr. King, the overachiever of the block, went all out for Christmas: The tree in the window, the lights along the roof and a Santa on his sleigh on the porch roof.

There are a few ‘Mr. Kings’ in my neighborhood.

In particular is the gentleman down the street. For Halloween, they erected a 10-foot skeleton in the yard, placed ‘shrunken heads’ on fence poles, pumpkins on steps and swooping bat wings from the porch roof. They have not held back for Christmas.

The skeleton stayed up this year, this time swathed in lights, as is every other inch of the house front. It is a light show that rivals the one in the old Wanamaker’s department store in Philadelphia.

I would hate to see their light bill…

As the shortest day of the year approaches, make Mr. King’s spirit happy and get out and see the lights in your own neighborhood, shopping plazas and merchant areas.

Here are some places recommended by 510 Families and Johnny FunCheap.

Oakland

Oakland’s Temple Hill Holiday Lights and Gardens is the place to go for a drive-by or a leisurely stroll for a religious holiday experience. Wear a jacket, because it’s chilly outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at 4220 Lincoln Ave., particularly after dark. The gardens are open all day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the lights on from dusk until closing.

Alameda

Just across the High Street Bridge from Oakland, you’ll find Christmas Tree Lane in Alameda.

On Thompson Avenue between High Street and Fernside drive, displays range from classic trees and blow-ups to a comedic response to the film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Lights turn on at dusk and can be seen through the first week in January.

Berkeley

The Fourth Street business district from University Avenue to Virginia Street in Berkeley comes alive with lights beginning at 5 p.m. through Jan. 1, 2026.

There’s also a display at one house at 928 Arlington St., and, for children, the Tilden Park Carousel Winter Wonderland runs through Jan. 4, 2026. Closed Christmas Day. For more information and tickets, call (510) 559-1004.

Richmond

The Sundar Shadi Holiday Display, featuring a recreation of the town of Bethlehem with life-size figures, is open through Dec. 26 at 7501 Moeser Lane in El Cerrito.

Marin County

In Marin, the go-to spot for ‘oohs and ahhs’ is the Holiday Light Spectacular from 4-9 p.m. through Jan. 4, 2026, at Marin Center Fairgrounds at 10 Ave of the Flags in San Rafael through Jan. 4. Displays dazzle, with lighted walkways and activities almost daily. For more info, go to: www.marincounty.gov/departments/cultural-services/department-sponsored-events/holiday-light-spectacular

The arches at Marin County Civic Center at 3501 Civic Center Dr. will also be illuminated nightly.

San Francisco

Look for light installations in Golden Gate Park, chocolate and cheer at Ghirardelli Square, and downtown, the ice rink in Union Square and the holiday tree in Civic Center Plaza are enchanting spots day and night. For neighborhoods, you can’t beat the streets in Noe Valley, Pacific Heights, and Bernal Heights. For glee and over-the-top glitz there’s the Castro, particularly at 68 Castro Street.

Livermore

The winner of the 2024 Great Light Flight award, Deacon Dave has set up his display with a group of creative volunteers at 352 Hillcrest Avenue since 1982. See it through Jan. 1, 2026. For more info, go to https://www.casadelpomba.com

Fremont

Crippsmas Place is a community of over 90 decorated homes with candy canes passed out nightly through Dec. 31. A tradition since 1967, the event features visits by Mr. and Mrs. Claus on Dec. 18 and Dec. 23 and entertainment by the Tri-M Honor Society at 6 p.m. on Dec. 22. Chrippsmas Place is located on: Cripps Place, Asquith Place, Nicolet Court, Wellington Place, Perkins Street, and the stretch of Nicolet Avenue between Gibraltar Drive and Perkins Street.