An FBI agent who worked undercover to bust the ring of alleged corruption throughout college basketball has been accused of ... corruption. While working undercover, an agent on the case allegedly misappropriated government money and spent it on gambling, food and beverages, according to the Wall Street Journal.
FBI agent who worked on college basketball scandal has been accused of his own corruption
The agent’s witness testimony could be compromised.
Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
WSJ has the details:
To create the impression they were investors in a fledgling sports agency looking to reel in players, undercover FBI agents and a cooperating witness took coaches out to fancy dinners, booked elegant hotel rooms, and handed out envelopes of cash, the people said.
Starting in the spring of 2017, the FBI agent now under scrutiny spent months undercover in the investigation, posing as a business partner of the government’s lead cooperating witness—Pittsburgh financial adviser Marty Blazer. On July 29, while on an undercover trip to Las Vegas, the agent met in a hotel room with a group including Mr. Blazer, an aspiring sports agent and an assistant coach at the University of Southern California, according to the criminal complaints.
Within days of that meeting, the agent abruptly appeared to stop working on the undercover operation, some of the people familiar with the investigation said. His absence was explained to the aspiring sports agent as an overseas trip, according to the complaints last fall.
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into the agent. He wouldn’t be able to provide witness testimony at future trials if he’s found culpable.
The investigation allegedly outed Louisville, Miami, USC, Arizona, Auburn, and Oklahoma State for corruption involving recruiting and/or payments to players. No school was more affected than Louisville, who fired head coach Rick Pitino amid allegations that the program worked with Adidas to funnel a $100,000 payment to the father of five-star recruit Brian Bowen. Bowen has since transferred to South Carolina.
USC hasn’t had starting guard De’Anthony Melton all season because of the scandal. Auburn lost two starters but somehow still leads the SEC. The Arizona Wildcats are good, but not the preseason top-five team they were thought to be. David Padgett has done a remarkable job keeping Louisville in line for an NCAA tournament berth despite taking over the program just weeks before the season.
It will be fascinating to see if the integrity of the investigation is compromised following these new allegations about the agent.
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