NCAA Coaches And Stars Took Bribes In Massive Scheme, Feds Say

A federal investigation focusing on the role of money in high school and college sports has ensnared assistant coaches at four of the nation's most prominent athletic programs. The coaches are among 10 people charged in an alleged scheme in which bribes were paid to send top players to certain colleges as well as steer them to managers and financial advisers.

"The picture of college basketball painted by the charges is not a pretty one – coaches at some of the nation’s top programs taking cash bribes, managers and advisors circling blue-chip prospects like coyotes, and employees of a global sportswear company funneling cash to families of high school recruits," the United States Attorney for the Southern District, Joon Kim, said in a statement.

"For the ten charged men, the madness of college basketball went well beyond the Big Dance in March."

Watch: FBI Arrests NCAA Basketball Coaches, Adidas Rep & Others For Bribery

Kim outlined what he said were two basic schemes.

In the first, what is referred to as the "Coach Bribery Scheme," coaches took money to steer athletes to select financial advisers and business managers.

The second, referred to as the "Company 1 Scheme," involved bribes being paid to student-athletes and their families in return for them committing to playing at certain schools.

"If we take care of everybody and everything is done, we control everything," Christian Dawkins, a sports agency recruiter and one of the defendants, is quoted as telling an undercover agent, according to one of the complaints.

"You can make millions off one kid."

The three complaints — in addition referring to the named defendants — also refer to a dozen college basketball players who go unnamed as well as two other universities that sources say are Louisville and Miami.

The coaches charged are Tony Bland of the University of Southern California, Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State, Chuck Person of Auburn and Emanuel Richardson of Arizona. In addition to the coaches and the head of global sports marketing at Adidas, financial advisers and managers are also named. (For more local news, subscribe to the Phoenix Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts).

The allegations are contained in three separate complaints totaling more than 100 pages and include charges of bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy. The investigation has been going on since 2015. The FBI used wiretaps, undercover agents and cooperating witnesses as part of the investigation.

The investigation is continuing, and the FBI has set up a special phone number - 212-384-2135 - for people call in tips.

Prosecutors laid out the crux of the probe in the three complaints.

"Many such coaches have enormous influence over the student-athletes who play for them, in particular with respect to guiding those student-athletes through the process of selecting agents and other advisers when they prepare to leave college and enter the NBA," prosecutors say in court papers.

"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."

At least one of the financial advisers is cooperating with prosecutors in the investigation.

Person is probably the most well-known of those charged. After starring at Auburn where he played alongside Charles Barkley, he was drafted fourth overall by the Indiana Pacers in 1986 and went on to play 13 seasons in the NBA, including stints withe Timberwolves and Spurs. After his playing days were over, he moved to coaching, first as an assistant with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Person is accused of accepting close to $91,500 to steer players to a financial adviser after they left school. The adviser is cooperating in the probe.

Prosecutors say that Person used $18,500 of his bribe money to funnel payments to the families of two student-athletes.

Another of the complaints charges James Gatto, the Wilsonville, Oregon, resident who is the head of global sports marketing at Adidas.

According to the complaint, Gatto arranged for payments of $100,000 to the family of a Kentucky high school player to attend a university that sources say is Louisville and $150,000 to the family of another high school student to attend a school identified by a source as Miami.

Both Louisville and Miami have contracts with Adidas.

The complaint against Gatto also charges Merl Code, whom prosecutors say "is affiliated" with Adidas and its high school and basketball programs. Before working for Adidas, Code was the director of Elite Youth Basketball for Nike.

The third complaint focused on what prosecutors say was wrongdoing by the other three coaches — Bland of Southern California, Evans of Oklahoma State, and Richardson of Arizona.

USC, under head coach Andy Enfield, finished 26-10 and fifth in the Pac-12 last season and made it to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Oklahoma State, under first-year head coach Brad Underwood, finished 20-13 and fifth in the Big 12 and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Auburn, under head coach Bruce Pearl, finished 18-14 and 11th in the SEC. Arizona, under head coach Sean Miller, went 32-5 and won the Pac-12 tournament. Arizona State made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, where they lost to Xavier.

Photo credit: Associated Press; Tony Dejak, Bebeto Matthews, John Miller/Associated Press; Todd J. Van Emst/Opelika-Auburn News via AP