5 things to know about college basketball’s bribery scandal

For most, it was probably no big surprise to find out Tuesday morning that a sneaker company and college basketball weren’t exactly playing by the rules, but when “FBI” was added to the mix, jaws dropped.

United States attorney for the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim rocked the college hoops world when he revealed the alleged criminal findings of a two-year investigation involving several prominent assistant coaches and shoe maker Adidas. The 10 defendants in the complaint face federal bribery and fraud charges, which could mean prison time.

Let’s break down some of the findings from the more than 200-page document filed by federal prosecutors.

Why did the FBI get involved with this in the first place?

The FBI happened upon this investigation while working on another case. The “cooperating witness” in that case, a former financial advisor with ties to college hoops, apparently told investigators about the shoe deals and bribes. The NCAA usually handles most of their problems internally, but they say the first they heard of this investigation was Tuesday morning when everyone else did.

So, some players were given shoes. Big deal?

It goes much deeper than that, according to the complaint filed. Assistant coaches were using their positions to lure players to their schools, then taking bribes and kickbacks from other advisors, the filings allege.

The complaint states: “The investigation has revealed numerous instances of bribes paid by athlete advisors, including financial advisors and business managers, among others, to assistant and associate basketball coaches employed by NCAA Division I universities, and sometime directly to the student-athletes at NCAA Division I universities as facilitated by the coaches in exchange for those coaches exerting influence over student-athletes under their control to retain the services of the bribe-payors once the athlete enters the [NBA].”

Were any big coaches involved?

Some notable assistant coaches were charged, but no head coaches were named. The four assistant coaches were former NBA player Chuck Person of Auburn, Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State, Emanuel “Book” Richardson of Arizona and Tony Bland of USC.

Person faces six felony counts. He allegedly received more than $90,000 to steer two unnamed players to specific agents and financial advisors.

As for head coaches getting involved, The New York Times wrote:

Then what role did Adidas play?

In one case, Adidas executive Jim Gatto and two financial planners allegedly funneled $100,000 to an All-American high school player’s family to facilitate that player attending an Adidas-sponsored school and retaining the financial advisors once in the NBA.

Though the exact school was not named — nor were players — the filing said it was located in Kentucky. Louisville signed a 10-year, $160 million deal with Adidas this summer. In a statement on Tuesday, the school admitted it was under investigation.

Adidas released this statement: “Today, we became aware that federal investigators arrested an Adidas employee. We are learning more about the situation. We’re unaware of any misconduct and will fully cooperate with authorities to understand more.”

Will schools be punished?

Not for now. This is a federal investigation, not NCAA. Kim also noted that schools were not involved. But because this is an ongoing investigation, more details could emerge, especially from those already charged who will be trying to clear their name.