COLUMBUS (AP):

A federal judge handed down a six-year prison sentence Thursday to a man who portrayed himself as a member of a wealthy Pakistani family while running a multimillion-dollar investment scam involving three former Miami Heat players and the team.

Judge Edmund Sargus also ordered Haider Zafar to pay $15.7 million in restitution to his victims and three years of supervision after his release. Zafar, 36, a legal US resident, could face deportation to his native Pakistan after leaving prison.

Zafar defrauded former basketball players Mike Miller, James Jones and Rashard Lewis in 2013 by promising to invest millions of dollars in various business opportunities, according to the government. He also received a $1 million, three-season Heat ticket package he never paid for, the government said.

Zafar pleaded guilty last year in federal court to five wire fraud charges that each carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence. That case was consolidated with another against Zafar, in which he previously pleaded guilty to swindling a Washington, DC, businessman out of $10 million between 2008 and 2010.