Feds Make Arrest Over George Mason Basketball Bahamas Trip

An Atlanta-based travel agent has been arrested and criminally charged this week in connection to a Bahamas trip for the George Mason University men’s basketball team that never got off the ground.

Maurice Eugene Smith, founder and CEO of the Eugene Toriko travel agency, was charged with defrauding George Mason University and its foundation, which spent $159,756 for what the FBI describes as a sham. Instead of using the money to secure accommodations and flights for the Patriots, Smith is accused of using at least some of it to fund his own getaways to Mexico and Panama. He is facing a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted of wire fraud.

According to a criminal complaint, filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Smith’s alleged fraud scheme ensnared multiple other victims, including an unidentified private college’s men’s baseball program and the international studies department of an unnamed four-year public university in Georgia.

GMU arranged its Bahamas trip through the VII Group, a sports event marketing company that, in addition to arranging foreign tours for college basketball teams, operates this weekend’s annual Holiday Hoopsgiving tournament in Atlanta. The VII Group, which is identified as “Company A,” is not itself accused of wrongdoing.

“George Mason University is aware of the investigation that the FBI conducted as well as the charges announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” a university spokesperson said in a statement. “We offer our sincere gratitude to the FBI and their investigative team for their thorough work throughout this process. Our university continues to work to recover funds paid for the canceled foreign tour.”

Representatives of Eugene Toriko and the VII Group did not respond to emails seeking comment Thursday night.

After the trip was canceled in the eleventh hour, the VII Group released a statement taking responsibility for the situation, saying “we deeply regret that we have not lived up to those expectations.” The university, meanwhile, said it was “working to promptly resolve this matter and secure a full refund for those directly impacted.”

However, according to this week’s charging documents, none of the money has been reimbursed. In early September, Sportico reported on the FBI’s interest in the matter after obtaining communications between an FBI agent and George Mason athletics official through a public records request.

According to the complaint, the VII Group began discussing a potential trip with GMU’s men’s basketball team in June 2023. VII Group CEO Chris Williams, identified in a criminal affidavit as “Individual 1,” then contacted Smith, who he is said to have known through “a mutual acquaintance,” about arranging a trip for August 2024 through his travel agency. Smith initially emailed Williams a list estimate for $149,542, which was later updated to $164,336 to build in a “cushion” to cover surprise overages and profit for both companies. The price was subsequently lowered to $159,756.

In April, a trip contract was digitally signed by officials from GMU, the GMU Foundation (GMUF) and the VII Group. The criminal complaint highlights that neither Smith nor Eugene Toriko were parties to the agreement, even though the travel agency “was supposed to handle all travel arrangements” and Smith “himself reviewed and edited the contract.”

The GMU Foundation wired an initial deposit of $55,914.60 to the VII Group on April 17 and sent a second wire of $103,841 on May 23. Using those funds, the VII Group paid $109,756.07 to Eugene Toriko in three installments. The complaint does not make clear what happened to the remaining sum of $50,000 that was allegedly paid by GMUF to the VII Group.

Though Smith reserved 30 seats on an American Airlines flight from Washington’s Ronald Reagan Airport to the Bahamas—and reserved a block of rooms at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar—the government alleges he never paid for those reservations. Despite that, the complaint says, he continued to send emails and text messages to Williams indicating that he had. 

After sending a written apology to GMU through the VII Group, Smith initially refused to meet with the FBI when approached in September. Later, in a telephone interview with agents, Smith said that he had subcontracted the to another agency he did not name, and chalked the botched trip up to an “oversight” and “misunderstanding.” According to the complaint, the FBI could find no evidence of another agency being involved in the discussions.

Until now, Smith has received largely positive media and PR attention for his work. Last year, Robb Report honored him as one of the “Best Black Travel Specialists to Help You Create Your Next Dream Vacation,” while Travel + Leisure featured him on its 21st annual travel agent A-list.

The VII Group, meanwhile, is currently being sued by the University of Memphis over a five-figure reimbursement it claims to be owed for its participation in the 2022 Holiday Hoopsgiving event. In court filings, the VII Group has denied that it is in breach of contract.

(This story has been updated with a statement from George Mason.)