The Swamp

A_B wrote:"The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that four college basketball coaches at Auburn and Oklahoma State University and had been arrested, as well as managers, financial advisors, and representatives of a major international sportswear company"

Joe K wrote:

A_B wrote:"The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that four college basketball coaches at Auburn and Oklahoma State University and had been arrested, as well as managers, financial advisors, and representatives of a major international sportswear company"

Coaches from USC and Arizona have also been arrested. And it sounds like Louisville (shocker!) and two other schools (located in Florida and South Carolina, so likely UF/FSU and Clemson/So. Car.) were also part of the scheme.

A_B wrote:

Joe K wrote:

A_B wrote:"The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that four college basketball coaches at Auburn and Oklahoma State University and had been arrested, as well as managers, financial advisors, and representatives of a major international sportswear company"

Coaches from USC and Arizona have also been arrested. And it sounds like Louisville (shocker!) and two other schools (located in Florida and South Carolina, so likely UF/FSU and Clemson/So. Car.) were also part of the scheme.

Maybe this will be what sinks Pitino.

Joe K wrote:

A_B wrote:

Joe K wrote:

A_B wrote:"The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that four college basketball coaches at Auburn and Oklahoma State University and had been arrested, as well as managers, financial advisors, and representatives of a major international sportswear company"

Coaches from USC and Arizona have also been arrested. And it sounds like Louisville (shocker!) and two other schools (located in Florida and South Carolina, so likely UF/FSU and Clemson/So. Car.) were also part of the scheme.

Maybe this will be what sinks Pitino.

https://twitter.com/buzztulsa/status/912688751930900481

brian wrote:I want to see these head coaches say they didn't know this shit was going on with a straight face.

A_B wrote:

brian wrote:I want to see these head coaches say they didn't know this shit was going on with a straight face.

I'm not sure Pitino's face is capable of expression these days so if anyone can pull it off he can.

A_B wrote:I'm not sure Pitino's face is capable of expression these days so if anyone can pull it off he can.

DaveInSeattle wrote:

A_B wrote:I'm not sure Pitino's face is capable of expression these days so if anyone can pull it off he can.

I can't wait for the tearful press conference where Rick again tells us about his brother-in-law who died on 9/11.

DSafetyGuy wrote:

DaveInSeattle wrote:

A_B wrote:I'm not sure Pitino's face is capable of expression these days so if anyone can pull it off he can.

I can't wait for the tearful press conference where Rick again tells us about his brother-in-law who died on 9/11.

Pat Forde will be there to dry his tears.

HaulCitgo wrote:Should probably just read the warrants or indictment but why is this a federal case instead of another NCAA issue?

Joe K wrote:

DSafetyGuy wrote:

DaveInSeattle wrote:

A_B wrote:I'm not sure Pitino's face is capable of expression these days so if anyone can pull it off he can.

I can't wait for the tearful press conference where Rick again tells us about his brother-in-law who died on 9/11.

Pat Forde will be there to dry his tears.

Forde has already posted 13 Tweets about the story without once mentioning Louisville being implicated. He's really going to the mat for his drinking buddy Pitino.

None of this is any surprise for anyone who follows the sport. Proving it, though, has always been nearly impossible … neither the NCAA nor investigative reporters have the resources of the FBI, nor the ability to provide the legal pressure that flips someone into a cooperating witness.

So now the lid is off the jar and where this ends is anyone’s guess.

Tuesday, college coaches were calling emergency staff meetings and coaches at all levels were consulting attorneys. This is an entirely different level than anyone has seen before, not a mostly toothless NCAA, but a motivated FBI and U.S. Attorney in New York looking to make a big media splash.

And splash they will. Even if there aren’t legal ramifications for everyone, the recruiting dirt that is about to get turned over will be unprecedented. The code of silence that has protected the sport and the NCAA’s system of “amateurism” is about to be cracked in a million pieces under FBI questioning, where a single lie is a felony.

The NCAA may be backed into a corner where it needs to blow up one of its signature revenue producers. And financial planners don’t just care about basketball. Football players make big money, too.

In basketball, nearly everyone has recruited Brad Augustine’s “1 Family Hoops” out of Florida, which is annually loaded with talent as one of Adidas’ signature programs. Nearly everyone knows powerful Adidas executive Jim Gatto, who was arrested, too. All of the indictments Tuesday stem mostly from the acts of one financial planner and one agent.

There are many more who operate the same way. Who knows when the heat shifts to them.

Big, bigger … biggest scandal ever.

HaulCitgo wrote:Similar deal with the other case. I mean you know you dont pay to have a kid go to school but somehow they have cheated the institution and government out of financial aid because of a false certification that they didnt violate NCAA rules? Government needs to find something better to do.

Overview

Schools are not on the hook, according to United States Attorney Joon Kim. The assistants at USC, Arizona, Oklahoma State and Auburn are all implicated, but neither the schools themselves -- nor the head coaches at those schools -- have been levied with any allegations.

The men involved: Financial advisers, former NBA agents, Adidas representatives and assistant coaches

The corruption: The aforementioned money men linked up with assistants to funnel players to schools with specific ties to shoe companies. Cash was exchanged when money managers and advisers (among others) wound up "secretly funneling cash to the families of high school recruits," Kim said Tuesday afternoon. Sometimes that money was delivered in cloaked ways, like through a youth grassroots basketball program.

There are three separate, official complaints tied to the two schemes. The first scheme was to get assistant coaches to lure players to specific college programs. The second scheme was to get money to the families of those players. The goal was for the player to have an allegiance to the shoe company (Adidas) after he left college.

It all started with a cooperating witness. How did the FBI manage to get involved in the shrouded world of college recruiting?An unidentified financial advisor, who was charged in 2016 by the SEC with fraud, became cooperating witness after those charges were filed. The witness informed the FBI, as means of cooperation, that he could bring light to fraud and corruption in the world of college recruiting because said witness had been party to it in the past.

The bribes: The alleged payments ranged from $13,000 to $100,000, according to Kim.

Two undercover agents were used in this process. There were hundreds of conversations covertly recorded. The FBI is not working in the dark; it has coaches accepting bribe money in person from undercover agents and has on tape those coaches speaking on being party to the illegal schemes.

The NCAA was not notified of the investigation. The FBI revealed during its press conference on Tuesday that the NCAA was unaware of the investigation until Tuesday morning.

There is no timetable for this case. It is ongoing, and the fallout is very much to be determined. It could be many months, even more than a year, before everything is resolved.

The case could expand - massively: There is also an element of having another shoe drop here. Because those who have been charged could be given an option to reduce their potential sentences or legal punishments, names of others who have cheated could be named.

tennbengal wrote:The assistants arrested have ZERO reason not flip on everyone they know at this point. This ain't the mob (well, maybe except for Pitino), if they can implicate others to reduce their probable sentences, they will.

tennbengal wrote:In hindsight, surprised it took this long...

howard wrote:

tennbengal wrote:The assistants arrested have ZERO reason not flip on everyone they know at this point. This ain't the mob (well, maybe except for Pitino), if they can implicate others to reduce their probable sentences, they will.

How could they not flip? My second thought, after my disgust that no head coaches were named, was exactly this; they'll get named soon enough.

tennbengal wrote:In hindsight, surprised it took this long...

This has long amazed me. Long like decades.

Joe K wrote:

Joe K wrote:

DSafetyGuy wrote:

DaveInSeattle wrote:

A_B wrote:I'm not sure Pitino's face is capable of expression these days so if anyone can pull it off he can.

I can't wait for the tearful press conference where Rick again tells us about his brother-in-law who died on 9/11.

Pat Forde will be there to dry his tears.

Forde has already posted 13 Tweets about the story without once mentioning Louisville being implicated. He's really going to the mat for his drinking buddy Pitino.

Mea culpa. Forde just posted a column saying Louisville should get the death penalty if the $100K payment is proven true.

DSafetyGuy wrote:I don't know how many of you dabble in team-specific message boards, but the amateur sleuthing can be enjoyable. Some of the people at a Syracuse board are parsing the documents and drawing links to players Boeheim was unable to get commitments from based on where they ended up going. Even one of the local beat writers has tweeted everything but a name in connecting Point A to Point B with a player who committed to Arizona.