College corruption scandal gets uglier by the day
Yahoo Sports published FBI documents yesterday on the ongoing college corruption scandal. In those documents players from more than 20 NCAA Division I programs have been identified as possibly breaking NCAA rules.
These are the schools identified as having players who possibly violated NCAA rules: Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Kentucky, Michigan State, USC, and Kansas. At least 25 players are linked to impermissible benefits. Including Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Duke’s Wendell Carter.
The documents obtained detail the work of former NBA agent Andy Miller and his agency, ASM Sports. The documents show cash advances as well as entertainment and travel expenses paid for college prospects and their families.
As many as three dozen Division I programs, including many of the sport’s traditional powers, might be facing NCAA sanctions once the FBI releases information it acquired during its investigation.
The documents include more than 4,000 conversations intercepted through wiretaps and financial records, emails and other records seized from Andy Miller’s office. Many of the sport’s top coaches and players might be implicated.
At least six players were identified in the documents as receiving payments exceeding $10,000. They include Dallas Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith Jr., who received $73,500 in loans from ASM before he played for NC State; Brooklyn Nets shooting guard Isaiah Whitehead, who received more than $37,000 around the time he was a freshman at Seton Hall; and 2017 No. 1 NBA draft pick Markelle Fultz, who received $10,000.
Other teams with current or former players who allegedly received payments were South Carolina, Louisville, Utah, Xavier, Wichita State, Clemson, and Alabama. Other players named in the college corruption scandal include former LSU guard Tim Quarterman, former Maryland center Diamond Stone and former Kentucky center Edrice “Bam” Adebayo.
NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement:
“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America. Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules.”
The list of schools identified in the FBI probe, as reported by Yahoo! Sports is divided into three distinctions: players who received impermissible benefits and preferential treatment, players identified in expense reports by former ASM employee Christian Dawkins and players who met with Dawkins. Some schools appear in multiple categories.
Emmert noted that the formation of an independent Commission on College Basketball this past October intended to provide recommendations on cleaning up the sport.
The FBI has been investigating the college corruption scandal for at least two years. It started with college coaches who were involved in the Adidas bribery charge.
Last week, a federal judge in New York declined to dismiss criminal indictments against Adidas executives James Gatto and Merl Code, as well as Christian Dawkins, a runner who worked for Miller’s ASM Sports. The men are among 10 people who were charged with wire fraud in September after the government accused them of funneling money from Adidas to the families of high-profile recruits. Their trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 1.