College Hoops Scandal: FBI Arrests NCAA Coaches, Adidas Exec on Bribery Charges
Massive undercover operation reveals $100,000 payments to top hoops recruits
Sean Burch | September 26, 2017 @ 9:33 AM
Last Updated: September 26, 2017 @ 11:14 AM
Ten people in connection with several high-profile college basketball programs have been arrested on corruption charges on Tuesday, according to a filing by the U.S. Department of Justice.
As a result of an undercover FBI investigation, assistant coaches from Arizona, Oklahoma State, Auburn and USC, along with an executive from sportswear giant Adidas, were indicted. A “cooperating witness” that handles money for professional athletes gave the FBI a close-up of the high-stakes world of basketball recruiting, getting an agent inside the hotel rooms where deals are finalized.
Glaringly, one of the filed complaints said Adidas exec Jim Gallo worked to funnel $100,000 to the family of an All-American recruit to persuade him to play at a “public research university” in Kentucky. (The University of Louisville is an Adidas-sponsored basketball powerhouse in Kentucky.) The payoff was “on the books” with Adidas, but “not on the books for what it’s actually for,” according to an undercover agent.
Another case said Gallo — who is listed as director of global sports marketing at Adidas on his Linkedin page — directed $150,000 to a different player to steer him to a top basketball program.
“Today, we became aware that federal investigators arrested an Adidas employee,” said Adidas in a statement obtained by TheWrap. “We are learning more about the situation. We’re unaware of any misconduct and will fully cooperate with authorities to understand more.”
The complaint said college coaches have an “enormous influence” on where student-athletes attend school, as well as their agents coming out of college.
“The investigation has revealed several instances in which coaches have exercised that influence by steering players and their families to retain particular advisers, not because of the merits of those advisers, but because the coaches were being bribed by the advisers to do so,” said the court documents.
The indictment is backed by recordings, written documents, corroborating testimony and payment paper trails. The four coaches indicted were former NBA sharpshooter Chuck Person of Auburn, Emmanual Richardson of Arizona, Tony Bland of USC, and Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State.
The U.S. Attorney has a 12:00 pm ET press conference in New York to expand on the matter.
Sports and Politics Don't Mix? History Says Otherwise (Photos)
With President Donald Trump's grousing over recent protests in the NFL, the debate over whether athletes should express their political views through the platform of sports has heated up once again. But contrary to what some might believe, the phenomenon of athletes protesting didn't begin with Colin Kaepernick. Read on as TheWrap delves into the long-term relationship between sports and politics.
At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Tommie Smith and John Carlos -- who'd taken the gold and bronze medalists in the 200-meter dash -- took to the winners podium and raised their fists above their heads in a silent protest against discrimination against African-Americans in the United States. "If I win I am an American, not a black American. But if I did something bad then they would say 'a Negro.' We are black and we are proud of being black," Smith said of the protest.
Boxing legend Muhammad Ali famously refused to serve in the U.S. military during the Vietnam war, noting, “Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go ten thousand miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs?" In 2005, President George W. Bush awarded Ali the Presidential Medal of Freedom, calling him "a fierce fighter and a man of peace."
Following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. The boycott would grow to 65 nations who refused to participate in the games.
Four years later, the USSR would return the favor, boycotting the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. "Chauvinistic sentiments and anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in this country," the Soviet government said of the boycott, which 13 other communist countries would also join.
At the beginning of the 1995-1996 NBA season, Denver Nuggets point guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf decided that he wouldn't salute the American flag during the playing of the national anthem prior to games. The decision went unnoticed for some time; when NBA commissioner David Stern handed down a one-game suspension to the player. The NBA later reached a compromise, mandating that Abdul-Rauf stand for the anthem, but allowing him to close his eyes and face downward.
In 2014, following the death of Eric Garner after a confrontation with police in New York, Cleveland Cavaliers stars LeBron James and Kyrie Irving wore shirts emblazoned with the phrase "I Can't Breathe" -- Garner's reported last words -- while warming up for a game against the Brooklyn Nets. Nets players Jarrett Jack, Alan Anderson, Deron Williams and Kevin Garnett also donned the shirts.
In 2016, then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick opted not to stand during the national anthem, saying, "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color ... To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
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From Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, a timeline of protesting athletes
With President Donald Trump's grousing over recent protests in the NFL, the debate over whether athletes should express their political views through the platform of sports has heated up once again. But contrary to what some might believe, the phenomenon of athletes protesting didn't begin with Colin Kaepernick. Read on as TheWrap delves into the long-term relationship between sports and politics.
