Craig Carton Biography
Craig Carton (Craig Harris Carton) is an American radio personality best known as the former co-host of the Boomer and Carton sports radio program on WFAN (AM) in New York City from 2007–2017.
Craig’s tenure at the station ended after he was arrested in September 2017 on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud for allegedly running a concert ticket Ponzi scheme.
Later on March 29, 2018, amid the allegations against him, Craig launched his new program, “Carton and Friends” with Michelle Serpico on the FNTSY Sports Network, an online broadcaster.
However, in November 2018, Craig was convicted of all charges and he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison.
Craig Carton Age
Craig is 50 years old as of 2019. He was born on January 31, 1969.
Craig Carton Wife | Craig Carton Wife Kim Carton
Craig’s wife is known as Kim Carton. Kim is an American businesswoman from Huntington Valley, Pennsylvania. The couple tied the knot in a private ceremony. Their marriage ceremony was private and was attended by close friends and family members.
Craig and Kim have four children together; three sons and one daughter namely; Sonny, Lucky and Anthony Carton. Their daughter is named Mickey Carton.
Craig Carton Net Worth
Craig has an estimated net worth of about $2 million.
Craig Carton Career
Craig began his broadcasting career in 1991 at WGR Radio in Buffalo, New York but in 1992, he moved from Buffalo to WWWE in Cleveland, Ohio and later to 610-WIP in Philadelphia. He was a weekend host known as “The Kid” and he had filled in on WIP’s Morning Show and was familiar with the Sports Talk/Guy Talk format. Craig was actually the first person to break the news story that the Philadelphia Eagles had been sold to Hollywood producer Jeffrey Lurie.
He later left the East Coast for Denver, Colorado, working mostly at KKFN 950 AM, “The Fan” and his morning show took off immediately despite his never getting along with the program director, Tim Spence. Craig was the highest-rated host in the station’s history, which resulted in his being offered the morning slot on KBPI Radio and he quickly became the top-rated local morning show in Denver radio. He eventually resigned and left Denver to care for his wife, Kim, who was pregnant with their first child, a girl, named Mickey.
Later in late 2000, Craig became Scott Kaplan’s replacement on WNEW-FM’s “Sports Guys” morning radio program in New York City and he worked as a “Sports Guy” for one year. He worked with Sid Rosenberg and Blain Ensley (and briefly with Eddie Ifft) and then just Ensley when Rosenberg left and Craig took the show in a new direction, adding stunts as an on-the-air cockfight and “Pastapalooza”. During the September 11 attacks in 2001, Craig was also broadcasting live with Ensley on WNEW.
He then became a “Jersey Guy” on New Jersey 101.5 but in 2007, he departed for a morning opening at WFAN (AM) as Boomer Esiason’s co-host when Esiason was hired as the permanent replacement for Imus in the Morning.
The program, called Boomer and Carton, reached number one (men 25–54) in the Arbitron Ratings within a year, a ranking that Imus had not achieved since 1993 and thereafter, the show was simulcast on MSG Network from September 14, 2010, until September 11, 2013.
In 2012, he was the host of Spike’s MMA Uncensored Live and on March 8, 2013, he and Esiason were the radio announcer and color analyst, respectively, for an NBA game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Washington Wizards.
Craig Carton Podcast
Beginning December 4, 2017, Craig hosted the ‘Hello My Name is Craig’ podcast and his first guest was Anthony Scaramucci.
Later on March 29, 2018, Craig returned to radio as host of Carton & Friends on FNTSY Sports Network, a Canadian specialty television and streaming service and in May 2018, Sports Byline USA acquired rights to syndicate the program on terrestrial radio.
Craig Carton Arrest and conviction for Ponzi scheme
Craig was arrested by federal agents at his home in New York City on criminal charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit those offenses on September 6, 2017. He, Michael Wright, and Joseph Meli are alleged to have run a Ponzi scheme that defrauded $5.6 million from investors by falsely claiming they had access to millions of dollars of concert tickets at face value through non-existent agreements with concert promoters.
Craig allegedly used the funds from new investors to cover millions of dollars of gambling debts and to repay earlier investors, according to a parallel civil complaint filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
After receiving an indefinite suspension from WFAN, Craig resigned from the station on September 13, ending his ten-year stint as co-host of Boomer and Carton, leaving Esiason as the sole host. He said he made the decision to give his former show “the best opportunity to succeed without further disruption”.
Craig Carton Sentencing
On November 7, 2018, Craig was convicted in Manhattan federal court after a week-long trial, sentencing was scheduled for February 27, 2019, but it was until March 15, 2019.
On April 5, Craig was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and ordered to make restitution of $5 million; he must turn himself by July 15 to begin his sentence.
Craig Carton And Friends
Craig Carton News
Source: https://www.nytimes.com
The sports radio personality Craig Carton was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Friday by a longtime fan and listener — the judge — for a ticket reselling scheme that ended his broadcast partnership with the former N.F.L. quarterback Boomer Esiason.
Carton, convicted in November of conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud, was sentenced by Chief Judge Colleen McMahon in Manhattan federal court.
She greeted him like a radio listener.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Carton. Colleen from New York. First time, long time,” the judge said, adding that she used to listen to his show as she drove to court.
“I knew you could be fun to listen to,” she said. “I also knew you could be a jerk.”
The prison term was half of what prosecutors sought after Carton was convicted at a November trial of soliciting and then largely gambling away nearly $7 million.
Geoffrey S. Berman, United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a release that Carton’s ticket resale business, which purported to use his connections to obtain good seats for events like Metallica and Barbra Streisand concerts, was an “elaborate fiction.”
Carton, a 50-year-old Manhattan resident, blamed his fall from a measure of celebrity and wealth on “wildly stupid decisions” he made as he tried to cope with memories of being sexually abused at age 11.
He said memories of the abuse were set off by revelations of the crimes of Jerry Sandusky, a former Penn State football assistant who was convicted of child sexual abuse in 2012. That led him first to speak angrily and more emotionally than he ever had before on WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton” show, which he co-hosted for years with Esiason. Then he could not sleep.
“Nobody knows what it’s like when lights go out and you lay in bed awake and the demons come,” Carton said.
He recalled turning to blackjack and eventually developing a gambling addiction so serious that winning and losing became irrelevant.
Carton said his arrest in 2017 was a “lightning bolt of awareness for me.” He said he had joined Gamblers Anonymous and was undergoing therapy.
“I am truly powerless over this disease,” Carton said. His last bet — a loss — came in June, he added.
Before describing the sentence, the judge said she had enjoyed Carton’s show, except when it became too “raunchy.”
But she likened his crimes to those of the financier Bernard L. Madoff, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence, though she said Madoff’s scheme, in which he squandered roughly $20 billion, went on far longer.
The judge dismissed Carton’s claims that he never meant to lose investors’ money, saying it was a common justification in financial crimes.
“The money always runs out at some point, and only then do you realize the road to your personal hell was truly paved with your good intentions,” she said.
“Craig Carton, you have indeed descended into a hell of your own making,” the judge said. “Everything you spent a lifetime of building up is gone. Your marriage is over. Your family is decimated. Your kids are terrified. Your career is in tatters. Your reputation is lost.”
She did, however, praise Carton’s plan to publicly urge others to stop gambling as she ordered him to pay $4.8 million in restitution and to forfeit $4.2 million. He also must do 150 hours of community service.
She said Carton could perhaps someday resume a radio show, which he left after his arrest, but she noted one of the biggest advertisers on sports radio shows seemed to be legal gambling businesses.
“That troubles me,” the judge said.
Carton must report to prison on July 15.
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