Promoter Repayment Still Pending

Brownsville, Texas, officials have yet to recover their portion of the money that concert promoter Hiro Jamal Hariram allegedly stole from the city and a private businessman more than a year ago.

The city manager and city attorney are reportedly optimistic the money will still be recovered despite no resolution to the city’s breach-of-contract lawsuit filed last July.

The Cameron County grand jury indicted Hariram in December on theft charges related to accusations he bilked the city out of $9,562 for a bogus July Boyz II Men concert.

The promoter is also accused of taking $46,000 from Richard Hope of Hope Properties to put on a Sept. 4 concert featuring Garth Brooks and Shania Twain when neither artist had toured in many years.

Hariram’s attorney, Michael L. Young, is said to be working to resolve the civil case.

The promoter, free on $30,000 bail since his arrest last July, faces up to two years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine on the first count and from two to 10 years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine on the second count if convicted.