Federal prosecutors have filed additional counts against ex-Adidas rep Jim Gatto in CBB scandal:

[The Funster]

Adidas paid one KU player 20K to repay Nike because he took money from them to go to another school.

 

[auror]

Adidas paid one KU player 20K to repay Nike because he took money from them to go to another school.

I think the rumor is that it was de Sousa and it was Under Armour and Maryland.

 

[intlzncster]

Adidas paid one KU player 20K to repay Nike because he took money from them to go to another school.

Adidas funding the buyout. Almost amusing.

 

[Yardigan]

Louisville program is not going to get the death penalty...no matter what is handed down to them, unless it is ""YOU MAY NEVER PARTICIPATE IN NCAA DIV 1 HOOPS AGAIN...EVER"...they will be back...and they will be good...and it won't take long.

 

[UConnNick]

Adidas paid one KU player 20K to repay Nike because he took money from them to go to another school.

This made no sense to me. If a recruit gets paid by two different shoe companies, why pay either one of them back? Double dipping is a proud American tradition.

 

[Ewekon]

I think the rumor is that it was de Sousa and it was Under Armour and Maryland.

With the lead pipe

 

[KingAG]

Nothing will happen to them. They are the darlings of the ACC and creation of ESPN.

FBI

 

[Yardigan]

With the lead pipe

..in the library...

 

[intlzncster]

FBI

NCAA: "that's a government matter. we don't get involved in that."

 

[uconnfan68]

Louisville program is not going to get the death penalty...no matter what is handed down to them, unless it is ""YOU MAY NEVER PARTICIPATE IN NCAA DIV 1 HOOPS AGAIN...EVER"...they will be back...and they will be good...and it won't take long.

They do have Steve Enoch.

 

[huskymedic]

I think the rumor is that it was de Sousa and it was Under Armour and Maryland.

Yup: How Maryland, Under Armour were roped into FBI investigation of Kansas recruit

 

[RichZ]

So if a "booster" who is not directly connected to the school loans a kid a car and gives his mother a "job", that's a violation. But if a shoe company that has a contract with the school pays mom directly, that may be illegal, but it's not an NCAA violation, because "We don't hold the student athlete responsible for the wrongdoing of his relatives" or some such crap.

 

[UConnNick]

So if a "booster" who is not directly connected to the school loans a kid a car and gives his mother a "job", that's a violation. But if a shoe company that has a contract with the school pays mom directly, that may be illegal, but it's not an NCAA violation, because "We don't hold the student athlete responsible for the wrongdoing of his relatives" or some such crap.

If a student-athlete isn't responsible for wrongdoing by a parent, then why was Boatright suspended at the beginning of his freshman season because they suspected some bag man gave his mother money to pay for some Christmas gifts? Wasn't he suspended more than once for various numbers of games eventually adding up to about six?

I think the distinction made in the Cam Newton Sweepstakes orchestrated by his dad is the NCAA went along with the fairy tale that Cam had no idea what dad was doing behind his back. You'd think Boatright's case would have been somewhat similar, but unfortunately for Ryan, he wasn't the high profile starting QB for a No. 1 NCAA team. Also Emmert being in charge of the NCAA didn't help, either.

Trying to determine the NCAA's motivation for rule enforcement or lack thereof is a useless exercise in futility. It never makes any logical sense. They personify the terms arbitrary and capricious.

 

[Jaker]

Burn it all down!

 

[StoweD210]

So this is all been going on for a long time and instead of the NCAA spending their time cracking down on something so abhorrent they're investigating UConn for too many summer practices? Only the NCAA. Smh

The NCAA is looking into Depaul, too! They take any hint of a rules violation very seriously and investigate them all vigorously!*




*Unless coaches are using sneaker companies to pay recruits to come to their school. Then there's nothing they can do.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

[Sarcasm]I really feel for Kansas, being a victim and all. You have those rat bastards at Adidas forcing top recruits on them, many of them I'm sure Bill Self didn't want.[/Sarcasm]
To think Kansas, or any other school, is a victim is a load of crap. Someone must be identifying the recruits that Kansas would like targeted, unless I'm to believe that Adidas was truly forcing these players on them. Fry them all!

 

[UConnNick]

[Sarcasm]I really feel for Kansas, being a victim and all. You have those rat bastards at Adidas forcing top recruits on them, many of them I'm sure Bill Self didn't want.[/Sarcasm]
To think Kansas, or any other school, is a victim is a load of crap. Someone must be identifying the recruits that Kansas would like targeted, unless I'm to believe that Adidas was truly forcing these players on them. Fry them all!

Yeah, imagine poor Billy Self being forced to use players he had nothing to do with recruiting, that were foisted upon him by the shoe companies, without his knowledge or approval. Oh, the horror!

 

[huskymedic]

Long but interesting perspective:

 

[Skiblets]

Why the FBI would say Kansas was 'victimized' in their indictment is one of the most peculiar parts of this story. Why go out of your way to pre-clear the school by using that word in particular? Doesn't make any sense

 

[len0322]

Can anyone tell me how Kansas is a “victim” when multiple recruits got paid money to go there? From the brief quotes I read via Zagoria, seems like Billy Preston and Di Silva both took a good chunk of money.

They are a victim because they paid and got little in return....isn't it obvious. Think the NCAA should give them an extra scholarship for their suffering.

 

[intlzncster]

Why the FBI would say Kansas was 'victimized' in their indictment is one of the most peculiar parts of this story. Why go out of your way to pre-clear the school by using that word in particular? Doesn't make any sense

The FBI doesn't really care about the schools. It doesn't care about the players. They need the schools to be 'victims' of their real target: the shoe companies and bag men.

The big charges are wire fraud and money laundering. This is not a recent article, but it explains the legal position:

Why is it against the law to give money to recruits? Former federal prosecutors explain

 

[Paesano]

Why is Emmert still alive?

 

[UConnNick]

Why is Emmert still alive?

Because he protects the NCAA's billions of $$$ cash machine like a mama bear protects her cubs. That's what the college presidents love about him because the money is all they care about. They've sold their so-called student-athletes down the river, traveling cross country to compete in these ridiculous, geographically insane conferences, missing classes for weeks at a time, all in pursuit of the almighty dollar. And to top off the hypocrisy, they pretend to care about academics and education. What a farce.

 

[huskiesouth]

The FBI doesn't really care about the schools. It doesn't care about the players. They need the schools to be 'victims' of their real target: the shoe companies and bag men.

The big charges are wire fraud and money laundering. This is not a recent article, but it explains the legal position:

Why is it against the law to give money to recruits? Former federal prosecutors explain

After multiple decades as a litigator (and of course wanting to win) , if I had to choose in these indictments, I’d choose the defense. Trying to paint the schools as the victims defies logic - the schools receive more revenue if their MBB teams are successful, the NCAA penalties are traditionally not extreme and hard to quantify monetarily as opposed to measuring the monies a school realizes from athletic success.

I realize it may sound cynical but cheating typically benefits a university, potential sanctions sound too hypothetical to result in a criminal conviction.

 

[intlzncster]

Because he protects the NCAA's billions of $$$ cash machine like a mama bear protects her cubs. That's what the college presidents love about him because the money is all they care about.

Same as Goodell in the NFL. And hence why you have the two most corrupt organizations in American sports (maybe Gymnastics now too tho).

 

[auror]

Why the FBI would say Kansas was 'victimized' in their indictment is one of the most peculiar parts of this story. Why go out of your way to pre-clear the school by using that word in particular? Doesn't make any sense

Even if their coaches were complicit, the "school" would still be the victim, as that is where the money is coming from and who is being defrauded.

 

[BUConn10]

Long but interesting perspective:

And yet, despite all the right in the article, just take a look at the comments. It's almost as if the author of the article was the one who committed these crimes, and now go check any comment section of any article pertaining to anything UConn related, the vitriol with which people spew hate towards UConn over the smallest things is why we are where we are in CBB. Public perception has always been kind and forgiving to school's like KU and poisonous to UConn.

 

[UConnNick]

Even if their coaches were complicit, the "school" would still be the victim, as that is where the money is coming from and who is being defrauded.

I don't know how the voodoo accounting methodology of these shoe companies is being used to hide what's really going on, but it seems to me that the only way the schools could be getting dinged for the cash payments is if they were getting deducted from the school's monthly contractual payments from their shoe company. To me, that would leave a reasonably easy to follow paper trail, so it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to do it that way.

I see it more as the schools knowingly participating in the whole deal, while using the shoe companies as sort of agents, creating a layer or buffer between them and the recruits/families. Under those circumstances, calling the schools "victims" is disingenuous at best.

I think the FBI sees it as quantifiable that schools will suffer some economic loss if they are found to have violated NCAA rules. Sanctions, loss of scholarships, postseason bans could all negatively affect the schools' bottom line. That's what makes them "victims", although those potential losses are difficult to quantify, and likely self-inflicted to a greater or lesser extent, depending on how much was known by school administrators and staff about what was going on.

The folks making theses deals apparently thought this was a win-win-win for everybody as long as the feds weren't involved. The schools were getting players they wanted, the shoe companies were signing players to be loyal to their brand after their college careers, and the intermediaries, including coaches and others, were making money off the deals. Everybody wins, until the FBI tears it all down.