Bowden's son pleads guilty to fraud

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Steve Bowden, eldest son of Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring with former Alabama quarterback Brian Burgdorf in a scheme prosecutors said swindled $10 million from investors, including the FSU coach.

Steve Bowden admitted to being part of a scam to sell unregistered securities through The Millennium Fund, which billed itself as being for "the privileged few."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Adolph Dean said Steve Bowden brought in his father and three other investors who lost a total of $4.4 million. Bobby Bowden invested $1.6 million, Dean said.

The younger Bowden once co-wrote a book titled The Bowden Way with his father, a Birmingham native who has been at Florida State since 1976.

A second man, James Michael Hanks of Hoover, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax charges during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre.

Burgdorf, who was a captain at the University of Alabama as a senior in 1995, intends to plead guilty during a hearing Friday, said his attorney, Ron Marlow. He didn't say what charges would be involved. Steve Bowden pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell unregistered securities.

Prosecutors will recommend a sentence of one to two years in prison for Hanks and probation for Bowden, Dean said. Bowdre set sentencing for July 30.

Other than the longtime coach, documents showed investors included Steve Bowden's brother-in-law, John Madden; four doctors; and former University of Alabama athletic booster Logan Young of Memphis, disassociated from the Crimson Tide program because of NCAA rules violations.

Bowden and Burgdorf were among the recruiters who brought investors into the scheme, which began in 1996 and included a web of accounts and corporations, according to plea documents filed by federal prosecutors.

A lawsuit filed by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission said Bobby Bowden invested in the fund in 1997 on the promise of a 14 percent return.