Tags: bribery | scheme | college | basketball | financial | advisers

4 College Basketball Coaches, Financial Advisers Charged in Bribery Scheme

4 College Basketball Coaches, Financial Advisers Charged in Bribery Scheme
(George Tsartsianidis/Dreamstime)

Tuesday, 26 September 2017 10:44 AM EDT

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday charged 10 people, including four college basketball coaches and financial advisers, with bribery and fraud in connection with college recruiting.

Those charged include Chuck Person, associate head coach at Auburn University; Anthony Bland, associate head coach at the University of Southern California; Lamont Evans, assistant coach at Oklahoma State University; and Emanuel Richardson, assistant coach at the University of Arizona, according to documents filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Others charged include James Gatto, director for global sports marketing for basketball at Adidas and Rashan Michel, founder and operator of a clothing company in Atlanta.

Adidas said in an emailed statement that one of its employees had been arrested by U.S. authorities. “We’re unaware of any misconduct and will fully cooperate with authorities to understand more,” it said.

Representatives of the universities and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which regulates college basketball, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The schemes included bribes paid to high school athletes to secure their commitment to play for a particular university, prosecutors said. The charges include bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.

Person is the best-known defendant, having been a two-time All-American at Auburn and its all-time scoring leader. He later played 13 years in the National Basketball Association, mostly with the Indiana Pacers.

Prosecutors said Person accepted $91,500 of bribes over 10 months to steer Auburn basketball players he thought capable of joining the NBA to buy suits from Michel and hire an unnamed cooperating witness to provide financial services. They said he kicked back $18,500 to the families of two of the players.

Person allegedly told a current Auburn player at a secretly recorded December 2016 meeting at a Manhattan hotel that he knew some help he was providing was “a violation ... of rules, but this is how the NBA players get it done, they get early relationships, and they form partnerships, they form trust.”

© 2026 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.


StreetTalk
U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday charged 10 people including four college basketball coaches and financial advisers with bribery and fraud in connection with college recruiting.
bribery, scheme, college, basketball, financial, advisers
318
2017-44-26
Tuesday, 26 September 2017 10:44 AM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

Sign up for Newsmax’s Daily Newsletter

Receive breaking news and original analysis - sent right to your inbox.

(Optional for Local News)
Privacy: We never share your email address.
Join the Newsmax Community
Read and Post Comments
Please review Community Guidelines before posting a comment.
 
Get Newsmax Text Alerts
TOP

Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.

NEWSMAX.COM
MONEYNEWS.COM
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
NEWSMAX.COM
MONEYNEWS.COM
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved