COLUMBUS – A former Ohio State football player and his wife have been sentenced to jail and ordered to repay millions of dollars for their roles in a sports drink fraud scheme.
Preston Harrison and his wife, Lovena Harrison, both of Lewis Center, were convicted earlier this year of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and filing a false income tax return. Lovena Harrison also was convicted of structuring financial transactions to evade currency reporting requirements.
Harrison, 43, was also convicted of scheming to deceive investors in his Westerville company about the success of the sports drink OXYwater.
Federal authorities say the scheme between summer 2010 and spring 2013 cost investors about $9 million.
According to court testimony, Harrison and his business partner, Thomas Jackson of Powell, co-founded and operated Imperial Integrative Health Research and Development LLC and developed OXYwater, a beverage that promoters claimed was an all-natural, vitamin-enhanced sports drink that contained added oxygen for improved physical performance.
Jackson and Preston Harrison sent false documents to investors intended to make the company appear to be “a lucrative and profitable financial investment in order to obtain additional investments” which they used for personal use, including the purchase of jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, a BMW vehicle, weapons, clothing, home improvements and a swimming pool, according to a statement from US Attorney Carter Stewart.
Harrison was sentenced Tuesday to serve nearly seven years in prison and ordered to pay $8.8 million to victims of the fraud, plus $1.1 million while paying the Internal Revenue Service nearly $376,00 in restitution, Stewart said.
Lovena Harrison was sentenced to serve one year and one day.
Jackson is scheduled for sentencing in October.