Why the FBI is getting involved in NCAA sports

http://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/index...volve.html

I can't figure out why anyone would wonder why the FBI is involved.

Criminal use of the phones, bank wire transfers and interstate commerce, plus possible tax evasion, bribery, etc...=Federal jurisdiction.

(02-24-2018 12:30 PM)jrj84105 Wrote:  This has bigger implications than NCAA violations. This is tax evasion and bribery of public officials. AZ clearly, with its football and basketball issues, has a lack of institutional control.

Let's say school A is playing by the rules. Agents are illegally bribing players to leave early without reporting payments, agents are bribing state officials to get kids to school B, other schools are bribing players to come to their schools, and shoe companies are bribing kids to go to another school.

If I'm school A and I spent dozens of hours and $5000 traveling to Finland, bringing a kid in on an official visit from Finland, etc then I why can't I sue the agent, the shoe company, and the dirty coach who illegally paid the kid to go elsewhere for damages?

These people aren't violating NCAA rules; they're committing crimes.

None of these things constitute bribery in a legal sense. Bribery is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty. Players have no public or legal duty to attend a school, or to play sports there.

The only crime that might be going on here is the failure to report payments as income. If Adidas pays an athlete to sign with one of their schools, that payment is income to the player. If he reports it as such to the IRS, no crime has been committed. Neither the school nor the NCAA have any way of knowing whether a player reported income that violates NCAA rules but is otherwise not illegal.

I'm not clear whether the FBI, in the absence of some evidence beyond mere suspicion, has the right to access IRS records to prove a case of tax evasion. Perhaps one of our lawyers here can answer that question.

(02-24-2018 01:56 AM)Wedge Wrote:  

Nailed it!

(02-24-2018 01:06 PM)TerryD Wrote:  I can't figure out why anyone would wonder why the FBI is involved.

Criminal use of the phones, bank wire transfers and interstate commerce, plus possible tax evasion, bribery, etc...=Federal jurisdiction.

You’re right, it is their jurisdiction. Probably have their best men on it too.

Miller needs to be fired NOW.
Arizona and the rest of the cheaters need to banned from this years NCAA tournament and loss of several schorships. I would also like to see all these schools banned from playing on tv for 3 years.

(02-24-2018 03:12 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

Suspending Miller while allowing the player who was to receive the money to play seems like an odd decision. Are they suggesting that Miller offered him the money and the kid turned it down (but signed with Arizona anyway)?

Or is it just a matter of recognizing that if he did take the money, they might as well continue to play him because the entire season is going to be vacated anyway?

(02-24-2018 09:02 PM)IWokeUpLikeThis Wrote:  

That is hilarious. No red flag there.

Arizona's board of regents is meeting on Thursday to discuss whether to retain Miller.

Also, regarding DeAndre Ayton, there is speculation (because of the timing of the "alleged" phone conversation) that Miller and the agent Dawkins were discussing Brian Bowen, not Ayton.

I'll be shocked if he's allowed to continue to coach.

(02-28-2018 04:46 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Arizona's board of regents is meeting on Thursday to discuss whether to retain Miller.

Also, regarding DeAndre Ayton, there is speculation (because of the timing of the "alleged" phone conversation) that Miller and the agent Dawkins were discussing Brian Bowen, not Ayton.

I thought Sonny Vaccaro's take on all this to be intriguing. And if there is anybody who would have good insight into the seamy underbelly of basketball recruiting it is Vaccaro.

Sonny suggests it is entirely plausible that the players whose names are being bandied about by the media are completely unaware of the money exchanging hands in their recruitment. He opines that those "ledger" entries titled loans, and tied to recruits' names, might actually be amounts advanced to agents or coaches to try to steer those recruits to a particular school or agent. He cautions against taking the term "loans" literally.

That interpretation would cast an entirely different spin on the entire FBI probe and related reporting. If Vaccaro is right, it certainly wouldn't be the first time high school players were exploited for someone else's benefit.

Arizona press conference, with Sean Miller, at 12:30 MT today. For whatever it's worth, that's 90 minutes before the board of regents meets.

If anyone wants to watch the press conference and let us know about it, it will be streamed live at http://pac-12.com/live/university-arizona

Color me shocked. Sean Miller is being allowed to continue to coach at Arizona. This will get interesting.

(03-01-2018 02:44 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Color me shocked. Sean Miller is being allowed to continue to coach at Arizona. This will get interesting.

Has the Arizona Board of Regents already met, or might this just be Sean Miller talking? I missed the press conference.

(02-24-2018 01:01 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  Why the FBI is getting involved in NCAA sports

http://www.al.com/auburnbasketball/index...volve.html

They are not getting involved in NCAA sports. They are not going to take wins or scholarships or titles away. They are not going to move the 3-point line. They are involved in real-life crimes. They are going to put people away for a long time.

(03-01-2018 02:44 PM)GoldenWarrior11 Wrote:  Color me shocked. Sean Miller is being allowed to continue to coach at Arizona. This will get interesting.

Miller is revered at AZ for keeping the torch of AZ hoops lit brightly after Olson retired. They are going to give him every chance to stay.

But let's face it, if another shoe drops, he's gone.

Did they rationalize why Miller was staying?