3 get prison in college basketball recruiting scandal

NEW YORK — A former Adidas executive and two others who paid families to persuade top college basketball recruits to play for schools sponsored by the shoe brand were sentenced to prison Tuesday by a judge who said he wanted to send a “great big warning light to the basketball world.”

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said he had to balance the need for a stern message with the realization that others who did similar crimes were not prosecuted in a widespread college basketball recruiting scandal that has tainted two dozen schools.

Former Adidas executive James Gatto, business manager Christian Dawkins and Merl Code, a former Adidas consultant, were convicted in October of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for funneling illegal payments to families of recruits to Louisville, Kansas and North Carolina State.

Gatto, 48, of Wilsonville, Oregon, got nine months in prison; Dawkins, 26, of Atlanta, and Code, 45, of Greer, South Carolina, got six months each. Code and Dawkins were each also ordered to pay $28,261 in restitution to the University of Louisville.

The judge said each can remain free until a federal appeals court decides whether to uphold their convictions.

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Prosecutors say coaches teamed with Gatto and others to trade hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to influence star athletes’ choice of schools, shoe sponsors, agents and even tailors.

NCAA President Mark Emmert has said an independent enforcement body to adjudicate major infractions cases could be in place by August.

Kaplan said leniency for the defendants, who faced as much as three years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, could only go so far.

“These defendants all knew what they were doing was wrong,” he said.

The judge added that he wanted to send “a great big warning light to the basketball world.”

“I deeply regret my actions,” Gatto said in a shaky voice.

Dawkins referenced “social dysfunction” in college basketball and said his actions were “clouded” by a “system that takes advantage of kids.”

“I realize now more than ever none of this was worth it,” Dawkins said.

Code, a former Amateur Athletic Union coach, said he also regretted his actions but added: “Some things really got to be changed about college basketball.”

The judge acknowledged none of the defendants “took home a nickel” from the scheme, but said it was wrong to say there was no economic motive because each defendant’s career stood to benefit.

Kaplan said all the harm could not be measured in dollars, citing testimony by the father of Brian Bowen Jr., once one of America’s bright high school basketball stars who seemed destined for the NBA until it was revealed that his father was to be paid $100,000 so his son would go to Louisville.

The judge recalled that the father cried as he testified that he had wrecked his son’s life. The younger Bowen now plays basketball in Australia.

Kaplan also cited the playing at trial of a recorded conversation between Code and Dawkins in which the men discussed giving Louisville basketball coaches “plausible deniability” about the scheme.

“I’ll never forget that,” Kaplan said. “They were making sure Rick Pitino’s tracks were being covered.”

Pitino was fired by Louisville after arrests were made in 2017 in the corruption investigation. He has denied wrongdoing.

In a release, Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami said the sentences “only begin to reflect the magnitude of the harm these defendants caused through a scheme that not only defrauded multiple public universities but upended the lives of young student-athletes and corrupted a game cherished by so many.”

Kaplan recommended all three men serve their sentences at minimum security prisons.

Tony Bland, a former Southern California assistant coach; ex-Arizona assistant coach Emanuel “Book” Richardson; and former Oklahoma State assistant coach Lamont Evans are awaiting sentencing. Former Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person, who pleaded not guilty, is scheduled for trial in June.

Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press