FBI / college basketball scandal...thing

[MaineDolFan]

Generally I'd comment more than the news link.  I just don't know what else to say.  This is nuts. What's everyone thinking?

https://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball/2017/9/27/16367814/ncaa-basketball-fbi-investigation-coaches-agents-adidas

[Phishfan]

I just heard about this for the first time today so I am not very familiar with the story other than what you posted. I'm not surprised by some of the names though (other than I would expect to see some that have not been mentioned).

[Dave Gray]

I'm just like you, Maine.  I read this and was like...."huh.....".  I don't know what to make of it.

[Sunstroke]

No need to change course, captain...that's just a little piece of ice floating in the ocean.

[Fau Teixeira]

Why is it illegal for Adidas to give a kid a boatload of money to get him to go to a specific school ?

i can see where that might impact his NCAA eligibility .. but illegal ?

[Baba Booey]

Why is it illegal for Adidas to give a kid a boatload of money to get him to go to a specific school ?

i can see where that might impact his NCAA eligibility .. but illegal ?

Because all of this money was paid under the table and no taxes were paid on these hundreds thousand dollar payouts in some cases.

[Fau Teixeira]

that i understand .. so shouldn't it be an IRS investigation and not an FBI investigation ?

and even then .. why would Adidas have to pay taxes on money it spends .. there's no income there.

[Phishfan]

It really isn't about taxes. Here is an outline:

What are the charges?
Jim Gatto, Merl Code, Christian Dawkins, Jonathan Augustine, and Munish Sood face charges of:
Wire fraud conspiracy
Two counts of wire fraud
Money laundering conspiracy

Lamont Evans, Emanuel Richardson, Anthony Bland, Christian Dawkins, and Munish Sood face charges of:
Conspiracy to commit bribery
Solicitation of bribes and gratuities by an agent of a federally-funded organization (Lamont Evans, Emanuel Richardson, and Anthony Bland)
Solicitation of bribes and gratuities by an agent of a federally-funded organization (Christian Dawkins and Munish Sood)
Conspiracy to commit Honest Services Fraud
Honest services wire fraud (South Carolina, Oklahoma State, Arizona, USC)
Wire fraud conspiracy
Travel act conspiracy

Chuck Person and Rashan Michel face charges of:
Conspiracy
Solicitation of bribes
Conspiracy to commit honest services fraud
Honest services fraud
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud
Travel act conspiracy

[DaLittle B]

While I don't like Basketball, when I heard about this, it didn't surprise me.I'm actually surprised it doesn't happen more,in the major college sports.

[masterfins]

"I'm shocked to find out there's gambling going on here"

"your winnings sir"

"Oh thank you"

[Pappy13]

Why is it illegal for Adidas to give a kid a boatload of money to get him to go to a specific school ?

i can see where that might impact his NCAA eligibility .. but illegal ?

I think you are missing the point. Adidas and the schools were working together to get the player to commit to the school. Adidas didn't just decide to give money to player X to go to school Y because you know that's what they do. Nuh Uh. The schools sign a contract with Adidas to provide their uniforms, gear etc. Obviously it benefits both the school and Adidas to get the best recruits, but that doesn't mean that Adidas can just start paying the players as incentive. Now where that becomes illegal as opposed to an NCAA violation that's a bit of a mystery to me, but obviously it's not condoned.

[dolanroi]

I'm not surprised also to see some of the names included in the article.

[Phishfan]

I think you are missing the point. Adidas and the schools were working together to get the player to commit to the school. Adidas didn't just decide to give money to player X to go to school Y because you know that's what they do. Nuh Uh. The schools sign a contract with Adidas to provide their uniforms, gear etc. Obviously it benefits both the school and Adidas to get the best recruits, but that doesn't mean that Adidas can just start paying the players as incentive. Now where that becomes illegal as opposed to an NCAA violation that's a bit of a mystery to me, but obviously it's not condoned.

It goes much deeper than just paying players to go to a school. Look at the charges I posted, this thing involves wire fraud, bribery, etc.

There are a couple related but separate investigations. In addition to Adidas there was a custom suit tailor and financial advisers who ran their business like a ponzi scheme. While there was some of the typical pay for play, it was tied to what appears to me to be a long game con where these advisers were getting their hooks set with these high school kids.

[Dave Gray]

I was on Reddit the other day and there was a gravedig of a thread from a couple of months ago where a user speculated that something like this was going on.  (I think it was) an Oklahoma state fan that thought that compensation was changing hands because there's nothing that the team had to offer the recruits of the magnitude that it was getting -- not a storied history, or exposure, or location, or anything really compared to the big programs where they were expected to go.

A few weeks later, this thing dropped.

[BuccaneerBrad]

It really isn't about taxes. Here is an outline:

What are the charges?
Jim Gatto, Merl Code, Christian Dawkins, Jonathan Augustine, and Munish Sood face charges of:
Wire fraud conspiracy
Two counts of wire fraud
Money laundering conspiracy

Lamont Evans, Emanuel Richardson, Anthony Bland, Christian Dawkins, and Munish Sood face charges of:
Conspiracy to commit bribery
Solicitation of bribes and gratuities by an agent of a federally-funded organization (Lamont Evans, Emanuel Richardson, and Anthony Bland)
Solicitation of bribes and gratuities by an agent of a federally-funded organization (Christian Dawkins and Munish Sood)
Conspiracy to commit Honest Services Fraud
Honest services wire fraud (South Carolina, Oklahoma State, Arizona, USC)
Wire fraud conspiracy
Travel act conspiracy

Chuck Person and Rashan Michel face charges of:
Conspiracy
Solicitation of bribes
Conspiracy to commit honest services fraud
Honest services fraud
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud
Travel act conspiracy

So giving money to a player to get them to go to a certain school is money laundering and wire fraud?  Now I'm even more confused.