RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A former member of the NC State Wolfpack basketball team was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a COVID-19 fraud scheme, federal prosecutors announced Friday. According to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 58-year-old Quentin Allen Jackson pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering with Paycheck Protection Act COVID-19 loans. In addition to his prison sentence, he was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution. Jackson's LinkedIn says he attended North Carolina State University from 1984 to 1988, earning a bachelor's degree in communications. He played professionally for the Harlem Globetrotters from 1988 to 1990. Jackson returned to N.C. State as the director of men's basketball operations, a position he held from 2006 to 2008. Federal prosecutors said Jackson conspired with others to obtain fraudulent PPP loans in the names of several companies under his control. After receiving the proceeds of the fraudulent PPP loans, Jackson carried out a series of steps detailed by his co-conspirators to make it appear as though the borrower's company was paying bi-weekly payroll to its employees. According to federal prosecutors, Jackson's actions made it appear as though Jackson's companies were paying regular wages as intended by the CARES Act.  Jackson instructed his purported employees to cash the checks and return the money to him. In addition to directly engaging in the PPP fraud, according to federal prosecutors, Jackson served as a middleman and earned a fee from his co-conspirators for each additional fraudulent borrower he recruited.  He recruited over a dozen individuals who obtained fraudulent PPP loans and engaged in the same scheme to launder the proceeds of the fraudulent loans. Federal prosecutors said nearly $4 million of fraudulent PPP disbursements are attributable to Jackson or to individuals he recruited to the scheme. "We in the Carolinas idolize our basketball stars, especially the ACC greats who played on Tobacco Road," U.S. Attorney Michael F. Easley Jr. said in a statement. "As a college point guard and Harlem Globetrotter, Jackson's crossover was deadly. But he drew a foul when he used his talents and reputation to recruit people into a multi-million-dollar fraud on our nation's pandemic relief program. "This seven-year prison sentence should stand as a warning to anyone who took advantage of our nation's generosity in a time of need," Easley continued in his statement. "We are patient, persistent, and willing to use every second on the shot clock." According to federal prosecutors, Raleigh basketball scout and life coach Earl Lamont Taylor worked with Jackson and Edward Whitaker to obtain fraudulent PPP loans. Taylor pled guilty in late November and is facing up to 30 years in prison. Jackson is the 27th defendant to be sentenced in the investigation. Five others, including Taylor, are awaiting sentencing.