FBI has arrested several NCAA assistant basketball coaches in a corruption scheme

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Names are starting to hit.

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I for one am shocked to see Auburn involved. I mean, a Bruce Pearl led team doing something corrupt? Shocked. Even though Chuck Person is the one named I would find it very hard to believe he was acting alone without Pearl knowing anything.
 

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Can anyone break this down for those of us that are illiterate in lawyer speak or don't have the time to read through all the documents? Thanks
 
Louisville is definitely involved here, too. If you read the docket, they're definitely "University-6."

The recruit appears to be Brian Bowen. He was paid $100,000 to attend Louisville, and amazing made his decision "out of nowhere" and was considered a coup for Louisville when he committed.
 
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Can anyone break this down for those of us that are illiterate in lawyer speak or don't have the time to read through all the documents? Thanks

In short, shoe company executives (looks to be Adidas and Nike) were funneling money to players and their families in exchange for "coercing" them to attend certain schools. The schools identified in the lawsuit appear to be Louisville and Miami; however, certain coaches such as Chuck Person are also specifically named as being part of this but part of a separate and distinct lawsuit. In addition to illegally paying for players, the "student athletes" involved were also coerced/pushed toward using a specific agent and financial advisor if/when they were to make it to the NBA.

Basically, it's a packaged-deal. We pay you, and you play for us and when you turn pro you use our agent and financial advisor. We pay you $100,000 or $150,000 now and you eventually pay us back in the long run by letting us represent you and handle your millions down the road.

There's a little more to it than that (such as how the money was laundered in order to get to the players and their families), but in short that' sums it up.
 
In short, shoe company executives (looks to be Adidas and Nike) were funneling money to players and their families in exchange for "coercing" them to attend certain schools. The schools identified in the lawsuit appear to be Louisville and Miami; however, certain coaches such as Chuck Person are also specifically named as being part of this but part of a separate and distinct lawsuit. In addition to illegally paying for players, the "student athletes" involved were also coerced/pushed toward using a specific agent and financial advisor if/when they were to make it to the NBA.

Basically, it's a packaged-deal. We pay you, and you play for us and when you turn pro you use our agent and financial advisor. We pay you $100,000 or $150,000 now and you eventually pay us back in the long run by letting us represent you and handle your millions down the road.

There's a little more to it than that (such as how the money was laundered in order to get to the players and their families), but in short that' sums it up.

Indictment, not lawsuit. Big difference.
 

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The executives at Adidas also very much knew what they were doing here. The FBI has wiretapped conversations where they were discussing this amongst themselves at the company, and they justified making the payments because Louisville was an important client, it was good for business to help Louisville land a 5-star recruit, and that they weren't doing anything illegal, in their eyes, because they were funneling the money through a financial advisor/business manager. They felt whatever the "business manager" did with the money was up to him and gave them a level of plausible deniability since they did not directly pay the athlete.

You all need to seriously read the entire indictment. It's unbelievable and incredibly interesting.
 
Hope Greg Lansing's name doesn't come up

It won't. This involves one-and-done type players and their recruitment, which doesn't strike me as ever being an Indiana State issue.

It also seems to primarily involve Adidas-contracted schools and Adidas-sponsored AAU teams. It basically puts everything on paper that we've all assumed...big P5 schools are funneling money through their shoe/apparel contracts to "not-for-profit" AAU teams in order to coerce players to attend certain schools. It exposes the fraud that is some college recruiting and the fraud that is some AAU organizations.
 

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Louisville is definitely involved here, too. If you read the docket, they're definitely "University-6."

The recruit appears to be Brian Bowen. He was paid $100,000 to attend Louisville, and amazing made his decision "out of nowhere" and was considered a coup for Louisville when he committed.

Rick Pitino is probably "shocked", and then after being hit with a huge punishment of "2 game suspension" for all of this, announces that he is disappointed once again in the NCAA.
 
Rick Pitino is probably "shocked", and then after being hit with a huge punishment of "2 game suspension" for all of this, announces that he is disappointed once again in the NCAA.

For sure.

Go to page 18 in the indictment, under part d. and e. Rick Pitino is clearly "Coach-2". I'll go ahead and translate it as it really should be read:


d. At the meeting, Augustine stated that he expected Adidas to fund at least a portion of the future payments to Player-11 (this is a 2019 recruit that hasn't been identified yet) and/or his family because, referring to Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino, 'no one swings a bigger dick than Pitino' at Adidas, adding that 'all Pitino has to do is pick up the phone and call somebody, and say these are my guys, they're taking care of us.' Dawkins and Coach-1 (who is an unknown UL assistant) then discussed ensuring that Player-11 ultimately signed with Dawkins upon entering the NBA, and Coach-1 explained that 'Pitino is not a guy to have his own agent already set up' so that would fall upon Coach-1 and another assistant coach at Louisville to steer the athletes to certain advisors...

e. Shortly thereafter, Coach-1 left the room, and Dawkins, Augustine and others proceeded to discuss the Brian Bowen scheme, and, in particular, the involvement of Rick Pitino in securing funding from Adidas to Brian Bowen's family. Dawkins, who had been negotiating directly with Brian Bowen's family, noted that Adidas had originally agreed to pay a certain number to Bowen's family, but that a rival athletic apparel company was coming with a higher number," such that Dawkins needed to get more from Adidas to secure Bowen's commitment to attend Louisville. Dawkins said that he had spoken with Rick Pitino about getting additional money for Bowen's family and involved Pitino that "I need you to call Jim Gatto, who's the head of everything" at Adidas' basketball program.
 
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