Craig Carton was living the dream of every sports fan — talking about sports for a living in the country’s biggest media market on a wildly successful morning radio show, WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton.” Until his world crumbled.
“Wild Card: The Downfall of a Radio Loudmouth,” from HBO Sports and StreetSmartVideo, will detail Carton’s rise and fall, the latter of which consisted of serving prison time after he was convicted in November 2018 of conspiracy, wire fraud, and securities fraud in connection with his role in a ticket resale Ponzi scheme. He was sentenced to 42 months in prison in April 2019. The presiding judge also ordered him to repay roughly $5 million in restitution and forfeit over $4 million.
Carton was a degenerate gambler and participated in the aforementioned scheme to repay his debts, defrauding investors in the process. “I had no idea how much he was gambling,” Carton’s former co-host Boomer Esiason said, as shown in the trailer. “We had the world by the balls. He ruined what we all had.”
In an April 2019 interview with The New Yorker before his sentencing, Carton told Nick Paumgarten, “I made some really stupid decisions, and those decisions, over a very small amount of time, have now changed my life forever. I’m guilty only of really, really bad judgment.”
Earlier this summer, the Syracuse University graduate was released from prison early and is currently under house arrest. Last month, Carton filed for Ch. 7 bankruptcy protection. He claimed assets of roughly $1 million and liabilities of $9.4 million, which includes the restitution he was ordered to pay as part of his sentencing.
Carton, 51, may be back on the airwaves at some point in the near future. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported late last month that WFAN, Carton’s former employer, is interested in bringing Carton back as a radio host. The Fanatic, a Philadelphia-based sports radio station, is also interested in retaining Carton’s services, according to Marchand.
The documentary will debut on October 7 at 9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST. Viewers will be able to watch it on HBO and stream it on HBO Max.