Yesterday a jury found three defendants guilty of an alleged “pay-for-play” scheme in which high-profile basketball recruits were directed to certain colleges in order to obtain impermissible benefits.
Adidas employee James Gatto, former Adidas consultant Merl Code and Christian Dawkins, a former runner for NBA agent Andy Miller, were found guilty on felony charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud after a weeks-long criminal trial in federal court in New York.
“Today’s convictions expose an underground culture of illicit payments, deception and corruption in the world of college basketball,” U.S. Attorney Robert S. Khuzami said in a statement. “These defendants now stand convicted of not simply flouting the rules but breaking the law for their own personal gain. As a jury has now found, the defendants not only deceived universities into issuing scholarships under false pretenses, they deprived the universities of their economic rights and tarnished an ideal which makes college sports a beloved tradition by so many fans all over the world.”
The three men were accused of paying money from Adidas to the families of recruits to ensure they committed to schools that were sponsored by Adidas, including Kansas, Louisville and NC State. After the turned pro, players were then expected to sign with the sneaker company, certain financial planners and specific agents.
Gatto, Code and Dawkins were accused of paying money from Adidas to the families of recruits to ensure they signed with Adidas-sponsored schools, and then with the sneaker company and certain financial planners and agents once they turned pro.
The trio will be sentenced on March 5, and their sentences will be decided based on federal guidelines. Attorneys believe their clients will face somewhere between 2-4 years in federal prison. All three men were found guilty on both counts, while Gatto was sentenced on an additional count of wire fraud.
Payments and the Fallout
According to the case, the men were accused of:
- Conspiring to pay $100,000 from Adidas to Brian Bowen’s father to get him to sign with Louisville.
- Conspiring to pay $90,000 to Billy Preston’s mother and $20,000 to Silvio De Sousa’s guardian to get them to play at Kansas.
- Conspiring to give $40,000 to Orlando Early, an assistant at NC State, to secure the commitment of Dennis Smith Jr.
The men testified that Kansas couch Bill Self and former Louisville coach Rick Pitino were aware of the payments, although the coaches adamantly deny those claims.
Two more federal cases involving college basketball corruption are scheduled in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, as a former Auburn assistant and NBA referee will be under the spotlight. There’s also pending trials against assistant coaches from Arizona, Oklahoma State and USC for similar alleged infractions.
This is probably only the tip of the iceberg, and we wouldn’t be shocked if more cases of fraud come to light in the coming months and years.
