West Hartford Man Sentenced For Embezzling From Sports Institute

WEST HARTFORD, CT — West Hartford’s Dan Doyle, founder of the Institute of International Sport, was sentenced Thursday by a Rhode Island superior court judge to 15 years in prison with seven to serve and ordered him to pay $550,000 restitution to the Hassenfeld Foundation. Doyle, 67, was found guilty in December of seven counts of embezzlement, one count of obtaining money under false pretenses, five counts of forgery and five counts of filing a false document.

The jury returned the verdict after a week of deliberations. The trial lasted several months, beginning with jury selection on Sept. 12. During the trial, the state called 53 witnesses to testify and presented the jury with nearly 400 individual exhibits. (To sign up for West Hartford breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

"Let there be no mistake – today’s verdict is direct result of Dan Doyle’s greed, deceit, and illegal actions,” Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin said at the close of the trial. “The fault lies with Dan Doyle alone.”

Doyle has maintained his innocence and his defense team said they are looking into new evidence as they fight for a retrial, according to NBC Connecticut.

During the trial, Kilmartin's office said, "the State proved that Doyle embezzled approximately $1.14 million from the Institute for International Sport, a non-profit agency he founded in 1986 with the mission to use sports and the arts as mediums to forge relationships on a global scale and to address societal issues. Among the many programs of the Institute, the most identifiable was the World Scholar Athlete Games held at the University of Rhode Island."

Read more from the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office below:

"The State proved that Doyle embezzled approximately $750,000 in unauthorized salary payments and loan payments from 2005 through 2011. In addition, the State proved that Doyle embezzled nearly $150,000 by paying the monthly balance on his personal American Express card from the Institute’s accounts for unauthorized purchases including cosmetic eye surgery, Starbucks, restaurant and bar bills, clothing, groceries, and other items.

"Further, the State proved that Doyle embezzled approximately $100,000 when he made tuition payments from the Institute accounts to Kingswood Oxford School and Oberlin College for his daughter, as well a $22,000 payment from the Institute accounts to fulfill a $50,000 personal pledge Doyle made to Bates College.

"In addition, the State proved that Doyle embezzled approximately $120,000 of Institute funds when he paid for items from the Institute account associated with his two for-profit businesses – the Hall of Fame Press and summer camps.

"The State also proved that Doyle obtained a charitable gift from the Hassenfeld Foundation under false pretenses when he misled the Foundation that the monies would be used to construct a building to support the Institute. Doyle failed to inform the Foundation that the funding for the building had already been secured and squandered. The building, located on property owned by the University of Rhode Island, remains an empty shell to this day.

"In addition, the State proved that Doyle forged, or directed the forgery of, the names of individuals on the Institute’s Non-Profit Corporation Annual Report for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 and subsequently knowing filed those false documents with the State of Rhode Island," the AG's office said.

With reporting by Alex Newman (Patch Staff)

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