An Atlanta-based travel agent has pleaded guilty to a single count of wire fraud tied to a Ponzi-style scheme against multiple clients that included the George Mason University men’s basketball team.
Last August, just hours before the team was scheduled to depart for a high-profile summer trip to the Bahamas, George Mason officials discovered the travel had never been booked—despite a $160,000 payment made by the school’s foundation. The revelation sparked a media uproar and prompted an FBI investigation, first reported by Sportico.
Earlier this month, Maurice Eugene Smith entered a plea agreement in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Under the deal, Smith agreed to pay a $250,000 fine, provide full restitution to the George Mason University Foundation and his other victims, and forfeit any assets the court deems connected to the fraud. In exchange for pleading, prosecutors agreed to recommend to the court a reduced sentence for a crime that could have seen Smith imprisoned for decades if he were found guilty at trial.
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17.
According to a statement of facts filed with the plea, Smith—owner of the luxury travel company Eugene Toriko LLC—admitted to using client funds for personal expenses and to repay other victims, rather than fulfilling the travel services he was contracted to provide. His alleged fraud took place between 2022 and 2024.
Beginning in June 2023, George Mason’s basketball program began working with the VII Group—referred to as “Company A” in court filings—to organize an international tour ahead of the upcoming season. The VII Group CEO Chris Williams, who knew Smith through a mutual contact, subcontracted Eugene Toriko to coordinate a multi-day trip to the Bahamas, including airfare, hotel accommodations, ground transportation and two exhibition games against local teams.
However, instead of paying to secure those reservations, Smith would later admit to using portion of the money to pay for his own trips to Tulum, Mexico, and Panama City—as well as approximately $12,000 in ATM withdrawals—and another portion to reimburse victims of his previous frauds.
In September 2024, Smith attempted to deflect responsibility for the failed GMU trip by writing a letter to GMU blaming the cancellation on a “logistical error.”
“Our values of integrity, accountability, and dedication to our clients’ needs are at the core of everything we do,” Smith wrote, according to court records. “We are dedicated to making things right and ensuring that this remains an isolated incident.”
Smith later told law enforcement that his professional liability insurance would cover the funds lost by the university and its foundation. However, Smith eventually admitted that he did not carry any such insurance policy.
Beyond defrauding schools, Smith also targeted individual clients. Several people paid Eugene Toriko to book vacations to destinations like Saint Lucia, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, only for their money to be used by Smith for his own luxury travel to Kenya, Italy’s wine country and elsewhere.
George Mason wasn’t the only university to be caught up in Smith’s scheme.
In the summer of 2023, Reinhardt University, an NAIA school based in Waleska, Ga., engaged Eugene Toriko to arrange travel for its baseball team to attend a tournament in Shreveport, La. According to court filings, the deal was facilitated in part due to Smith’s personal connection to Reinhardt’s baseball coach and then-executive director of athletics, who was his former college roommate. Similar to his actions with GMU, Smith signed an agreement with Reinhardt, accepted payment, and failed to book the airline reservations as promised.
Smith later admitted to using some of the money he had received from GMU to reimburse Reinhardt.
Smith was arrested in Atlanta on Dec. 12. According to court records, he has been represented in the case by a federal public defender. A text message sent by Sportico to a number known to have previously belonged to Smith did not receive a response.
The VII Group, which publicly took responsibility for George Mason’s ill-fated trip to the Bahamas, went on to host its fifth annual Holiday Hoopsgiving men’s college basketball tournament in Atlanta this past December, which featured Auburn, Ohio State, Florida, Arizona State, Georgia and Grand Canyon. In a brief phone interview at the time, Chris Williams defended his business’ reputation following the GMU mishap and a University of Memphis lawsuit claiming the VII Group failed to refund over $57,000 from the 2022 Hoopsgiving tournament.
A GMU spokesperson did not respond this week to a request for comment.
George Mason men’s basketball rebounded from the inauspicious start to the 2024–25 season by finishing the season 27–9, ending with a second-round NIT loss to Bradley.
