A youth basketball coach in East New York allegedly disappeared with $30,000 to $40,000 that was to be used to take his team to a tournament in Las Vegas, parents and players say, according to a report from ABC7 and other outlets.
The parents says AAU coach Karim Seabrook never even signed up Team 12 for the tournament last weekend in Las Vegas and now they can’t find Seabrook or their money.
“I think he must have in total collected $40,000 and you turn around the guy is gone, just disappeared,” parent Martin Mitchell told ABC7.
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In a Skype interview with News 12 Brooklyn, Seabrook denied any wrongdoing. He said he was only present for an initial payment of $140 and the team did not raise anywhere near the amount of money the parents suggest.
He said he left New York because he was forced out of the Team 12 organization and wanted to start his own organization in St. Louis, although he has not moved out of Brooklyn. He added that he shut off his phone because he did not want to have contact with his former team or organization.
Some of the parents went to the local policy but the police said they could not file a criminal complaint because they willingly turned the money over to Seabrook.
“The police told us that they can’t really do anything as of yet because it’s a civil matter. We have to take it to the court because he says he didn’t actual steal anything from us, that we actually gave it to him,” parent Alison Roberts said.
