Floyd Mayweather's Ex-Friend Fighting Prison Sentence After Fighter Sues
Floyd Mayweather Ex-Friend Fighting Prison Sentence After Fighter Sues Him For $175 Million
Published
The money manager whom Floyd Mayweather claims ran a years-long scheme, where he stole $175 million, is fighting a prison sentence handed down in an unrelated case ... TMZ has learned.
According to court docs, obtained by TMZ, Jona Rechnitz was ordered to serve 5 months in prison as part of a case involving allegations of wire fraud … but he is fighting the sentence.
The charges were brought back in 2016. Jona pleaded guilty to honest services fraud and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors on related cases in the hopes of getting a lenient sentence. The case dragged on for years until the codefendants’ cases were resolved.
Jona has been out on release for nearly 10 years since his cooperation began. In February, Jona was finally sentenced to serve five months in prison, and he's currently scheduled to check in on June 26.
On May 14, Jona asked the court to assign him to a specific prison that supports his religious observance.
Jona appealed the 5-month sentence, claiming the judge made errors when ruling on how long to throw him behind bars. He was in court this week, arguing that he should be allowed to remain out on bail while he awaits a decision on his appeal.
As TMZ first reported, Floyd sued Jona for allegedly scamming him out of $175 Million. The famed fighter claimed Jona was a close friend who drained his bank accounts and moved his money around.
Floyd claimed that Jona and others worked together on a scheme to defraud him out of millions.
A rep for Jona and the other defendants told TMZ, “We have thoroughly reviewed Mr. Mayweather’s lawsuit. His claims against our clients are utterly baseless and refuted by substantial documentary evidence, including Mr. Mayweather’s own correspondence."
"Our clients intend to vigorously defend against these claims and are confident that once all of the facts are presented in court, not only will our clients be vindicated, Mr Mayweather’s gambling issues, prolific spending habits, monies owed to third party creditors and IRS tax liens and levys, as well as other unseemly behavior will be exposed and we believe that Mr. Mayweather will be the one paying significant damages to our clients," the rep added.
