Pitino knew about money being funneled to recruit
Pitino was "Coach-2" and apparently spoke with the Adidas executive regarding sending money to a recruit. What a hypocrit. He's spoken out about shoe companies involved in recruiting and was playing in the same mud pit with them anyway.
Edit: One of the mentions of Coach-2 in the documents is: "no one swings a bigger dick than Coach-2" at Adidas. All he has to do is call them and say "these are my guys" and they'll take care of it. (36d)
September 28th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
He became so corrupted and arrogant and insulated that he forgot the rule. He had zero fear of the NCAA, for good reasons.
Didn't think about the FBI though.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 11:50 AM ^
...everyone should have known it might happen again. When you're that close to going down but the potential witness declines to cooperate, surely the thought should be "next time we might not be so lucky."
September 28th, 2017 at 12:02 PM ^
OK I know it's been touched on but someone please help. I don't understand why the FBI got involved. Is this because of fraudulant movement of money from corporations? I mean, giving kids money who say they are amateurs breaks what law?
We all know it's wrong, but why illegal/FBI? Why are long prison sentances being thrown around?
September 28th, 2017 at 12:24 PM ^
it'll be the addidas folks and hopefully 'coach-2' and those like him.
as to long sentences, with money and phone calls going across state lines you are squarely into the U.S. codes about wire fraud, tax evasion, etc. those can be harsh sentencing guidlelines, although the guidelines aren't mandatory any more.
September 28th, 2017 at 12:29 PM ^
Yeah, it's a FIFA-type situation.
Nobody knew that the FBI had any idea who FIFA even was until they rounded them all up.
Uncle Sam may not follow your sport, but he follows your tax money.
September 28th, 2017 at 12:56 PM ^
me too. who/what are they?
September 28th, 2017 at 1:48 PM ^
7 soccer execs arrested at a hotel in Switzerland for bribery, fraud, & laundering.
September 28th, 2017 at 9:09 PM ^
i mean, if all the words are in english, shouldn't the acronym make sense?
and thank you. i guess thats a soccer thing.
September 28th, 2017 at 9:49 PM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^
is untaxed...as in tax-free, under the table payments.
Feds don't like that sort of stuff.
September 28th, 2017 at 12:46 PM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 1:10 PM ^
Isn't it also illegal to bribe a public employee?
September 28th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^
Louisville is a public institution that receives more than $10k a year in federal funding. It is against the law to accept bribes as a public employee.
Not to mention that these coaches then helped the players fill out their financial aid paperwork for their scholarships while ignoring the under-the-table money. That is more federal fraud.
September 28th, 2017 at 2:54 PM ^
thanks. It's interesting to know exactly how these guys are going to be pinched
September 28th, 2017 at 11:32 AM ^
They don't just have one school's bagmen, they've got execs at the shoe companies themselves. This is simultaneous SMU at potentially dozens of schools.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:37 AM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 1:08 PM ^
Yes and no. It's beyond SMU level in that it could lead to heavy sanctions at a number of schools. But the SMU scandal was probably "worse" from a cheating perspective as it was the actual School operating a slush fund to pay players in order to improve performance on the field.
On the conduct side here, you have a shoe company that wants to keep potential star basketball players in their shoes so that they can become big individual brand ambassadors in the future. Programs took advantage of that in a way that is obviously cheating, but the original bad actor didn't care so much about the teams winning (though that is obviously a plus for a return on investment in payments to the school), as much as future earning potential with the individual players once they are in the NBA.
September 28th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^
I have learned that at the request of at least one coach at University-6, DAWKINS, JAMES GATTO, a/k/a "Jim," MERL CODE, MUNISH SOOD, the defendants, and others agreed to funnel $100,000 (payable in four installments) from Company-1 to the family of Player-10.
Louisville's not responding to a suggestion from Adidas, they're making demands. It goes so far that the Louisville coach winds up telling the Adidas guy he'll go over his head and have Pitino call the head office if he doesn't agree.
September 28th, 2017 at 1:40 PM ^
That's still not the same as a school operating a slush fund for payment to players. Maybe Adidas had a higher than usual interest in seeing Louisville succeed, and maybe Pitino, being as prominant as he was, was better able to direct the Adidas largess to benefit his program. But, to me, that is still a lesser crime on the part of the school, than the school itself doing the paying.
Basketball recruiting is corupt as hell. I don't feel bad for Louisville, Pitino, or the like. I'd be perfectly happy seeing Louisville get a death penalty from the NCAA. But the principal problem in this scandal is that shoe companies would like to pay 18-year old basketball players to wear their shoes and the NBA/NCAA rules do not allow that. The end result is corruption that ultimately benefits and involves certain schools/programs/coaches, but the principal bad acting entity isn't the school.
September 28th, 2017 at 3:41 PM ^
A coach and a recruit (or more likely his parents) settle on a dollar figure needed to flip the recruit.
- The coach hands the parents the money.
- The coach calls some wealthy boosters and says "hey, I need a favor."
- The coach calls an Adidas rep and says "hey, I need a favor."
As far as the culpability of the school goes, I don't see how the third party comes into it at all.
September 28th, 2017 at 5:31 PM ^
I think you guys need to read up on what happened at SMU. I'm not saying it was worse at SMU because the coaches were handing out money (that's happened a million times) vs. some third party, it's worse because the entire school administration knew about it and/or controlled it, including making the decision to not shut down the slush fund while on probation because certain players had been promised payments and were still on the team. SMU was so bad and got the death penalty because the school itself were actors in the cheating, knew about the cheating, and did less than nothing to stop it.
That is worse than a coaching staff paying players and the school not knowing about it and it's worse than a third party making payments that help a coach.
September 28th, 2017 at 4:21 PM ^
The school itself operating the slush fund, vs. the school coordinating slush fund payments from a supplier, is the quintessential distinction without a difference.
September 28th, 2017 at 5:33 PM ^
It's not the school itself operating the slush fund vs. the school coordinating slush fund payments, it's the school itself operating the slush fund vs. a coaching staff coordinating payments. SMU was a whole level or two up the chain of the school. That is certainly not a distinction without difference.
September 28th, 2017 at 4:51 PM ^
There is a huge difference once talking about federal money laundering charges. This is worse and it's not close. People are going to see some time behind bars for this one and quite possibly a lot of time depending on what was recorded.
September 28th, 2017 at 5:35 PM ^
Many of the charges are around coaches taking bribes to push players to certain agents, which I don't think will lead to NCAA violations.
If paying players to go to certain schools is federal money laundering, then it always is, and this isn't different or worse than the countless number of other times that conduct has happened.
September 28th, 2017 at 4:41 PM ^
But Pitino hasn't killed 5 hookers. Allegedly.
September 28th, 2017 at 3:43 PM ^
I am a free man!
September 29th, 2017 at 11:05 PM ^
for The Prisoner reference.
September 30th, 2017 at 12:06 AM ^
Well, obviously Pitino was saying "I am Number Two."
If anybody with graphics skills could cook up a visual of that lava-lamp Rover tracking down a couple of Hall of Fame coaches, it'd be greatly appreciated.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
In case anyone was wondering why crappy shoes that cost 47 cents to make cost $150.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:40 AM ^
i am so surprised by this revelation that i have continued breathing.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:40 AM ^
I will just enjoy that we got delicious revenge against Pitino in what will end up being his final game he ever coached. :)
September 28th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 11:47 AM ^
Considering that the FBI has "Coach-2" caught on tape, the NCAA has little choice but to impose the dealth penalty on Louisville. Anything less than that, and the NCAA basically admits it is a toothless tiger.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:53 AM ^
...they didn't include it in their initial documents. What they have is Coach-1 and Brad Augustine talking about him.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:56 AM ^
So Pitino can cling to some degree of (laughable but) plausible deniability.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:59 AM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 12:12 PM ^
they have records of three calls between Gatto and "a phone number used by Coach 2," all happening during the week before Bowen's commitment.
Which raises the question: why didn't anyone use a burner phone?
September 28th, 2017 at 12:26 PM ^
Why use a burner phone if you are supremely confident that you will never be caught?
And if you are caught, the punishment will be a slap on the wrist.
September 28th, 2017 at 12:05 PM ^
Probably not, but it's still a distinction and I think it's important to try to keep the facts straight.
It's possible they have him on tape and haven't released it yet. This was just what they needed to establish probable cause against Gatto and Dawkins and Augustine; if they're building a case against Pitino himself they have every reason not to show their cards.
September 28th, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^
all of the evidence has been disclosed.The FBI doesn't show all of its cards at once.
September 28th, 2017 at 4:53 PM ^
They don't necessarily need him on tape.
September 28th, 2017 at 1:58 PM ^
the death penality for demonstrating a lack of institutional control.
Seriously though, given the badass forensic acounting revealed so far, does anyone suppose the Feds have some pretty hard evidence of NCAA officials turning a blind eye to this crap?
September 28th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^
But probably not enough to indict at this point.
September 28th, 2017 at 4:55 PM ^
Disagree. They wouldn't have acted if they didn't. The would have continued the work. They have enough to indict. No artificial deadline.
September 28th, 2017 at 11:51 AM ^
September 28th, 2017 at 11:59 AM ^
Take care of him in about 15 seconds I bet
heh-heh
September 28th, 2017 at 12:00 PM ^
if you are the President/AD/BOT in an institution with "alleged" exposure, what are you doing this morning to avoid having this flaming bag of crap land on your stoop.
Yeah, I'm talking to you, Kentucky. And Kansas, NC, maybe Duke.