Via Lost Lettermen:
Former Georgetown and NBA center Dikembe Mutombo was reportedly involved in an elaborate gold-smuggling deal that went wrong, according to a story in the Houston Chronicle on Sunday.
Click the link below for all the details from the Chronicle, which reported that Mutombo was trying to get someone to buy $10 million and 1,045 pounds worth of gold so that he presumably could infuse the money back into his native Congo.
But a Congolese general got wind of the plan, according to the report, and seized the minerals before they could be sold, taking hostages in the process. The report said that a Houston-based energy executive owned a plane that was taken and New York-based purchaser had to spend $30 million to recover the hostages.
That plan in which Mutombo reportedly was involved would have circumvented the normal means of selling “conflict” minerals in the African country, where the profit from such sales go into the pockets of dangerous militias.
A defensive star in college and the NBA, Mutombo is known for being one of the most-philanthropic professional athletes. We wouldn’t be shocked if Mutombo’s plan was a sly means to a worthy end, but it’s certainly an incredible story right out of a movie.
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