Ex-NBAer Traylor to Serve Time for Past Due Taxes

Feb. 27 -- Former NBA and University of Michigan basketball player Robert Traylor must serve 60 days in prison for tax troubles. But a federal judge agreed Friday to allow him to first travel overseas to play ball for a team in Turkey.

In September, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn threatened the prison time because of Traylor's $178,000 in past-due taxes. Cohn held off after Traylor told him he was playing basketball in Turkey and Puerto Rico and wasn't aware of the missed payments.

But Traylor, 33, apparently hasn't made any significant progress with the debt. The Italian team he recently played for didn't pay him, according to his lawyer, Steven Fishman. Now, he's going to Turkey with an agreement to receive $15,000 as soon as he arrives.

Cohn said Traylor can begin serving the time June 1, after the season ends, and agreed to delay the sentence if the team makes the playoffs.

Traylor is on probation for a 2007 guilty plea to a charge of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return in connection with two apartment buildings he owned.

According to court documents, Traylor's tax issues were discovered by the Internal Revenue Service, and it was determined that he needed to pay $178,294 in taxes, penalties and interest for the 2004 tax year.

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