Wiretap audio from college hoops trial details pay schemes
Federal wiretap audio, text messages, hidden camera video and fraudulent invoices obtained by Outside the Lines -- evidence from the first criminal trial resulting from the two-year FBI investigation into college basketball corruption -- reveal an intimate look into the sport's unseemly underbelly.
In one wiretapped call, former Adidas consultant Merl Code and former Adidas executive James Gatto discuss Arizona's alleged offer of $150,000 to sign then-rising senior Nassir Little and whether the shoe company would match the sum to send the five-star recruit to the University of Miami, which is sponsored by Adidas.
Multiple wiretapped calls with Brian Bowen Sr. cover the several-school recruitment of his son, Brian Bowen Jr., and detail the father's efforts to get paid. Another call features Munish Sood and Christian Dawkins, a former runner for NBA agent Andy Miller, discussing whether they can trust two people who would later be identified as FBI agents.
Sood, a financial adviser from New Jersey, and former Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola pleaded guilty to their roles in the pay-for-play scheme and cooperated with the government. They will be sentenced next year.
Gatto, Code and Dawkins were found guilty this week on felony charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud after a three-week criminal trial in federal court in Manhattan. They were found guilty of paying money from Adidas to the families of recruits to ensure they signed with Adidas-sponsored schools and then with the sneaker company and certain financial planners and agents once they turned pro. They will be sentenced on March 5. Two more federal criminal cases involving college basketball corruption are scheduled for trial at U.S. District Court in Manhattan next year.
Following are the audio files, with accompanying transcripts of the recordings, as obtained by Outside the Lines. Please note subjects' use of expletives and racial slurs throughout the audio files and transcripts. Gaps in the audio files and blank transcript pages are due to government redactions in the evidentiary documents.