Carton Found Guilty. Says He’ll Appeal.   

On Wednesday, Former WFAN morning show co-host Craig Carton was convicted of running a Ponzi scheme. Jurors reached their decision after five hours of deliberations. The disgraced 49-year-old former WFAN morning show co-host faces up to 45 years in prison when he’s sentenced February 27. His lawyers say they’ll appeal the verdict.

The jury believed Carton raised over $4 million from investors, that was supposed to be used to re-sell tickets, and instead he used that money to pay off gambling debts and early investors. Carton was convicted of conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud. The trial lasted one week.

Two Barclays Center executives and a loan shark testified that Carton altered documents to help him convince a hedge fund to invest in the ticket resale business. Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark, who runs both the Barclays Center and the Nassau Coliseum, told jurors he never agreed to a contract for bulk ticket sales that Carton used to convince hedge fund investors to buy into his ticket-selling idea. When an attorney showed Yormark his signature on a Carton document, he said, “Supposedly I did. No, I did not. It’s a facsimile of a signature.”

Back in September, Carton’s co-defendant Michael Wright plead guilty after admitting he withdrew $550,000 in December 2016 from a ticket-selling business account at Carton’s instruction to pay Carton’s gambling debts.

Carton resigned from WFAN shortly after he was indicted in September of 2017. He consistently said he was innocent and the truth would come out at trial. Now, the 49-year-old faces up to 45 years in prison.