By Matthew Russell Lee
SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 19 – College basketball scandals involving Adidas and University of Louisville on March 5, with a glancing reference to Rick Pitino, resulted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in prison sentences of nine months for James Gatto, and six months each for Merl Code and Christian Dawkins. Now the latter two are set for a second trial for which jury selection will begin on April 22. On April 19 SDNY Judge Charles Ramos told the two defendants' lawyers how he will run jury selection, and the opening statements could begin on the afternoon of April 22 if the jury is selected before 3:30 pm.
There was discussion of yachts and luxury hotels; Judge Ramos said you can cross examination about where they stayed and what they ate but cautioned against getting into issues like college players getting paid. He asked for comments on the voir dire jury selection form by midday on Sunday, saying he'll be in his office working that day. The trial, expected to go two weeks, will take place between 9:30 am and 2:30 pm five days a week, with two 15 minute breaks for the jury. (Judge Ramos said he's done that math and that's still more hours than 9:30 to 5 Monday through Thursday, with a one hour lunch break. It seems Will Wade, LSU's once and perhaps again coach, will dodge the bullet. We'll have more on this, picking up from April 8 when Virginia beat Texas Tech 85-77 in overtime to win March Madness, on the same day SDNY Judge Lewis Kaplan was informed that "the Government and defendant James Gatto have agreed to restitution amounts for the Victim Universities. In particular, Gatto has dropped his procedural objections to the entry of a restitution order that includes legal fees for North Carolina State University and the University of Kansas, and the Universities have agreed to seek restitution of revised amounts of legal fees, specifically, legal fees of $79,026.75, for N.C. State University, and $161,574 for the University of Kansas. As reflected in the proposed restitution order, which is being submitted via email to the Court, the total amount of restitution, which includes scholarship amounts for certain student-athletes, is $342,437.75. In light of the proposed consent restitution order, the parties submit that the conference scheduled for tomorrow, April 9, 2019, is unnecessary." So one conference was cancelled - but the case(s) continue, and Inner City Press will continue to cover them, in ever more detail.
LSU coach Will Wade was suspended - even as LSU with named Javonte Smart in March Madness beat Maryland on March 23, only to lose on March 29 to the Spartans of Michigan State in the Subpoena Sixteen. Now corruption linked Auburn was itself robbed in the Felony Four, with a bogus foul call with 0.6 seconds left leading to three made free throws by Virginia. Some call it karma. Meanwhile, Michael Avenatti has accused Nike with relation to Zion Williamson's mother, and Duke says it is looking into it. Already out of the money - on paper - but in the line of fire are Kansas' Bill Self, and Arizona's Sean Miller. Inner City Press will continue to cover these cases in the SDNY, as it covered the April 5 sentencing of sports talk gambling addict Craig Carton by SDNY Chief Judge Colleen McMahon, here, where she said "long time listener" but gave no indication of Criminal Championship choice, if any.
On March 31 NCAA's Mark Emmert made much of information being imported into the internal adjudication system, specifically referring to the trial "later this Spring" - in the SDNY in April, which Inner City Press will cover -- at which coaches will testify under oath. He mentioned Condi Rice and behind the scenes (or, incongruously, "inside baseball") reforms, but he said the sneaker companies are an important part. Too important? Auburn continues on, knocking off the Tar Heels of North Carolina and and on March 31 in overtime Kentucky in the Illegal Eight, before the Michigan State beat Duke, treating them like Blue Devils like the UN should be treated, but for impunity, see below. Already in the Felony Four is last year's goat, the Virginia Cavaliers, with a buzzbeater by Guinea Conakry's Mamadi Diakite. There was immediate rebound refraction in UN world, where another Mamadi Diakite is works Security for UNAIDS and its harassment chief Michel Sidibe, defended to the end by corrupt UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who never submitted to questioning like the NCAA's Emmert did on March 31 and most recently lied about turning off the UN's lights for Earth Hour as Virginia beat Purdue and Texas Tech beat Gonzaga. Watch this site - and The Play, as Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome misses a free throw - on purpose? - and Diakite slaps the offensive rebound back to teammate Kihei Clark, behind the half court line. He found Diakite unguarded (not surprising given his shooting percentage) with a return pass and the rest is history. Video here. For now, this from the SDNY on March19: "CHUCK CONNORS PERSON, a former men’s basketball coach at Auburn University (“Auburn”), pled guilty in Manhattan federal court today to receiving approximately $91,500 in cash bribes from athlete advisers in exchange for using his influence over Auburn basketball players to retain the services of the advisers paying the bribes. PERSON pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As he has now admitted, Chuck Person abused his position as a coach and mentor to student-athletes in exchange for personal gain. In taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes, Person not only placed personal financial gain above his obligations to his employer and the student-athletes he coached, but he broke the law.” According to the Complaint, the Indictment, statements made in court and publicly available documents: Over the course of a year, PERSON, a former men’s basketball coach at Auburn University until shortly after his arrest, agreed to accept cash bribes in return for agreeing to exert his influence over student-athletes on the Division I men’s basketball team he coached to retain the services of the bribe-payers, including once the student-athletes entered the National Basketball Association (“NBA”). Beginning in 2016, and continuing into September 2017, when PERSON was arrested, PERSON received approximately $91,500 in cash bribes from a financial adviser and business manager, who, unbeknownst to PERSON, was providing information to law enforcement (“CW-1”). In exchange for the cash bribes, PERSON agreed to exert his influence over certain student-athletes PERSON coached at Auburn University to retain the services of CW-1 once those players entered the NBA." After Michael Avenatti was arrested and presented in the SDNY -- Inner City Press story here -- he has alleged that Oregon Ducks center Bol Bol took money from Nike to attend Oregon. Avenatti tweeted that Bol and his "handlers" received "large sums from Nike." Oregon lost to low scoring Virginia on March 28, in the Subpoena Sixteeen. Who will make it to the Illegal Eight? The Felony Four? The Criminal Championship? Meanwhile after Pitino's former team Louisville lost against Minnesota coached by his son by 10 - call it karma -- then Minnesota lost to Michigan State (slated to play LSU). Auburn, see below, again reversed the karmic trend with a win over Kansas after its squeaker win over New Mexico State. Auburn faces North Carolina on March 29. The next NCAA corruption trial starts April 22 in the SDNY, with Will Wade already served a subpoena... On March 19 Chuck Person, former coach at Auburn, pled guilty in the SDNY to receiving approximately $91,500 in cash bribes from athlete advisers in exchange for using his influence over Auburn basketball players to retain the services of the advisers paying the bribes. Person pled guilty before SDNY Judge Loretta A. Preska, who on March 25 is set to sentence UN briber Patrick Ho who paid $500,000 to UN PGA Sam Kutesa of Uganda, and offered $2 million to Chad's Idriss Deby. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “As he has now admitted, Chuck Person abused his position as a coach and mentor to student-athletes in exchange for personal gain. In taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes, Person not only placed personal financial gain above his obligations to his employer and the student-athletes he coached, but he broke the law".... In one recorded meeting, Person stressed to an Auburn University player the importance of keeping their relationship with CW-1 a secret. Person stated, “most important part is that you . . . don’t say nothing to anybody . . . don’t share with your sisters, don’t share with any of the teammates, that’s very important cause this is a violation . . . of rules, but this is how the NBA players get it done, they get early relationships, and they form partnerships.” Person later told that player that CW-1 would purchase him a separate cell phone over which they could communicate so as to conceal the nature of the scheme. It's called guilty knowledge.
On March 5 SDNY Judge Lewis A. Kaplan heard from each of the defendants' lawyers and then from the defendants themselves. A particular wiretap played during the trial was cited by Judge Kaplan, in which the parties said they had to leave Rick Pitino "plausible deniability." Since then Pitino, who was fired by Louisville in 2017 as the school’s basketball program was being investigated as part of the federal corruption probe, has complained. “The Southern District of New York used me for publicity, the University of Louisville buried a Hall of Fame career,” Pitino said in a text message to the Louisville Courier-Journal from Turkey, where his Greek EuroLeague team Panathinaikos plays Thursday. “Let me rest in peace. Please, you have killed enough of my life. "And by the way, if you care to ask, there are 50-plus players that will attest to my honesty, not some gullible judge. And Judge Kaplan is as guilty as the people he just sentenced for bringing up an innocent person with his remarks." In fairness, Judge Kaplan was quoting for a transcript of a wiretap played in the trial. And it is such a wiretap that has Will Wade not coaching. Now there's speculation, for now shot down, of Pitino returning to Washington State Universitydespite "the sleaze factor." We'll have more on this.
