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

OP-ED: AB 1349 Puts Corporate Power Over Community

Since Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, ticket prices have jumped more than 150 percent. Activities that once fit a family’s budget now take significant disposable income that most working families simply don’t have. The problem is compounded by a system that has tilted access toward the wealthy and white-collar workers. If you have a fancy credit card, you get “presale access,” and if you work in an office instead of a warehouse, you might be able to wait in an online queue to buy a ticket. Access now means privilege.

Published

21 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

By Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

As a pastor, I believe in the power that a sense of community can have on improving people’s lives. Live events are one of the few places where people from different backgrounds and ages can share the same space and experience – where construction workers sit next to lawyers at a concert, and teenagers enjoy a basketball game with their grandparents. Yet, over the past decade, I’ve witnessed these experiences – the concerts, games, and cultural events where we gather – become increasingly unaffordable, and it is a shame.

These moments of connection matter as they form part of the fabric that holds communities together. But that fabric is fraying because of Ticketmaster/Live Nation’s unchecked control over access to live events. Unfortunately, AB 1349 would only further entrench their corporate power over our spaces.

Power over live events is concentrated in a single corporate entity, and this regime operates without transparency or accountability – much like a dictator. Ticketmaster controls 80 percent of first-sale tickets and nearly a third of resale tickets, but they still want more. More power, more control for Ticketmaster means higher prices and less access for consumers. It’s the agenda they are pushing nationally, with the help of former Trump political operatives, who are quietly trying to undo the antitrust lawsuit launched against Ticketmaster/Live Nation under President Biden’s DOJ.

That’s why I’m deeply concerned about AB 1349 in its current form. Rather than reining in Ticketmaster’s power, the bill risks strengthening it, aligning with Trump. AB 1349 gives Ticketmaster the ability to control a consumer’s ticket forever by granting Ticketmaster’s regime new powers in state law to prevent consumers from reselling or giving away their tickets. It also creates new pathways for Ticketmaster to discriminate and retaliate against consumers who choose to shop around for the best service and fees on resale platforms that aren’t yet controlled by Ticketmaster. These provisions are anti-consumer and anti-democratic.

California has an opportunity to stand with consumers, to demand transparency, and to restore genuine competition in this industry. But that requires legislation developed with input from the community and faith leaders, not proposals backed by the very company causing the harm.

Will our laws reflect fairness, inclusion, and accountability? Or will we let corporate interests tighten their grip on spaces that should belong to everyone? I, for one, support the former and encourage the California Legislature to reject AB 1349 outright or amend it to remove any provisions that expand Ticketmaster’s control. I also urge community members to contact their representatives and advocate for accessible, inclusive live events for all Californians. Let’s work together to ensure these gathering spaces remain open and welcoming to everyone, regardless of income or background.