Coaches at four major college basketball teams have been charged with corruption on Tuesday according to reports from several media outlets. The prosecution implicates them in a plot to receive large amounts of money from sports representatives, tax advisors and executives of sportswear companies in exchange for persuading their players to hire their services.
The four trainers involved are Oklahoma assistant Lamont Evans, Auburn assistant Chuck Person, Emanuel Richardson of Arizona and USC assistant Tony Bland. For now, there are 10 people involved.
They are four of the most important teams in the NCAA, which moves hundreds of millions of dollars a year, occasionally generating as much excitement as the NBA. In 2016, the NCAA earned profits for more than 990 million dollars.
There are also big brand entrepreneurs, tax advisors, and sports agents. Jim Gatto, a senior Adidas marketing executive, is among those accused of bribing families and college basketball players to accept the college-affiliated team offerings. One athlete, Gatto paid $ 100,000, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Auburn coach Chuck Person, former star of the NBA, appears in court papers accused of taking tens of thousands of dollars from a tax adviser to get his players to hire him.
According to court documents, Evans, Richardson, and Bland received benefits in “an excess of $ 10,000 in a federal program that includes a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, and other forms of federal assistance.
For this reason, they face a total of 11 counts, including conspiracy to commit honest service fraud, cable fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to travel. While Chuck Person is charged with six counts and to accept $ 50,000 in bribes from a cooperating witness for the government in exchange for using his position in Auburn to retain the services of an agent.
The NCAA has already suspended Rick Pitino, head coach of Louisville, for the first five matches of the Atlantic Coast Conference in next season.
