Former NFL and UVA football player pleads guilty to wire fraud

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A former NFL and University of Virginia (UVA) football player is facing time in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud of commercial real estate funds.

The Department of Justice charged Christopher Harrison in October 2024 for embezzling real estate loan funds intended for construction for his own personal gain. His initial charges include wire and mail fraud, engaging in monetary transactions with criminally derived property and aggravated identity theft.

Harrison previously played football for the Detroit Lions as well as UVA and is a real estate developer.

The Department of Justice says Harrison secured two bank loans totaling more than $22 million for The Model Tobacco Project, a development in Richmond, and another construction project in North Carolina.

Last week, Harrison pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.

“In this case, if they had gone to trial, they're running the risk of being convicted of all of those charges, which is going to substantially really raise your guidelines exposure," said Russ Stone, 8News Legal Analyst.

According to federal court records, shortly before October of 2020, Harrison expressed interest in acquiring the Model Tobacco Building to build housing. He later filed a construction loan for the project with Cedar Rapids Bank and Trust totaling $95,200.

Court documents revealed Harrison inflated this invoice price which was initially $35,477. Harrison then hid the fraudulent and inflated invoice by taking out a cashier's check and redepositing the check into his own account.

Harrison is set to be sentenced in June and is facing up to 20 years in prison.

“There's going to be a variety of things that the court will have to weigh from that pre-sentence report and then make a decision about sentencing. It's hard to predict what that sentence will be, but I do think it's probably going to involve some time with incarceration," Stone said.

Stone also said that federal cases rarely receive the maximum sentence.

The remaining charges for Harrison will be dropped. 8News reached out to attorneys on both sides who declined to comment.