ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — What was supposed to be a weekend of fierce competition and proud moments turned into a gut-wrenching nightmare for several youth AAU basketball teams in Orlando.
“The depths that he went to try and legitimize his operation. It’s kind of crazy,” said Antwain Nock, Seminole Slam Basketball Coach.
Nock said his youth basketball team, Seminole Slam, and several other teams were duped out of their money, time, and trust by a man now accused of running a tournament that never existed.
Nock told Channel 9 that multiple teams signed up for the “Spring Fling Orlando” tournament, each paying $175 to register for a youth basketball tournament they believed was being held at Oak Ridge High School, organized by a man named Chris Lawson and booked through a third-party scheduling platform Exposure Events.
Nock said he has used the scheduling platform before and has not experienced problems until now.
Lawson, whose name was listed as the host of the alleged event, is also listed as living in North Carolina.
Nock said most of the conversations were via text, besides one.
“He was very pushy over the phone,” said Nock.
Nock showed Channel 9 text messages between him and Lawson. The messages show Lawson asking Nock to send the registration money through various third-party apps, including Cash App, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Nock said Lawson even tried to get him to send money to his wife’s Cash app account when his account was flagged.
Nock said after Cash App blocked Lawson from receiving money from him, his alternative to enter the tournament was through PayPal. He paid for two teams to join, totaling $350.00, for the alleged fake basketball tournament.
“It’s very disappointing trying to have faith and then saying, what if this happens again said Antwon Davis, parent of a player.
Davis said he was one of the first parents to arrive Saturday, confused that there was no setup for the games and no host to welcome them.
“The guy says hey, are you the team we’re playing?
I said no, we’ve got the next game.
He said, there’s no one here. No one to pay, nothing,” said Davis.
The flyer that has since been taken down from the site stated the games were from April 5th to 6th at Oak Ridge High.
On the day of the tournament, players and parents were met with locked doors and confusion. Davis said a school employee greeted them at the entrance and informed them that no tournaments were scheduled.
Orange County Public Schools confirmed there was never supposed to be a tournament in a statement.
No facility rental requests were received for a basketball tournament at Oak Ridge High School. Any individual or group may reserve an OCPS facility by placing a reservation request online.
Nock and Davis said for days, he and several parents, have tried to contact the numbers and email associated with Lawson but were unsuccessful. An even stranger twist — that same night, Nock received emails showing “final scores” for games they never played.
Fake matchups. Fake stats. Real heartbreak.
Exposure Events told Channel 9 in a statement that said,
We have reached out to this individual, and all the response we received was “Hacker”. We have blocked access to his account.
Families and coaches are demanding answers — and action to prevent disappointment to more teams and parents who work hard to afford these opportunities for their children.
“We shelled out $350 for this particular event and then also, getting my teams in other events, it was an additional $400.00. So we are talking an additional, $750,” said Nock.
Nock said he has filed police reports with Seminole County, where the organization is, Orange County, where the incident happened, and Robeson County, N.C.
Nock said the youth basketball organization is doing what it can to spread the word about the alleged fake tournaments and the person hosting them. They want to make sure this game of deception ends in Orlando.
Nock said that day he found the teams another tournament they did play in but ended up paying more entry fees.
Nock hopes the team can get the money back from the fake tournament.
The Seminole Slam team is looking at fundraising ideas to help recoup the money lost for future games and tournaments.
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