Justice Department Subpoenas NC State in Hoops Investigation

RALEIGH — N.C. State received a federal grand jury subpoena from the United States District Court in New York to turn over records on Jan. 17, Fred Demarest, a school basketball spokesman, said Friday.

The school's Office of General Counsel received the request from the Southern District of New York, where a grand jury was empaneled in relation to the FBI's investigation into college basketball last fall.

The request, Demarest said, is for records and not to interview current staff members.

In response to questions from the News & Observer on Feb. 19, N.C. State first-year head basketball coach Kevin Keatts said N.C. State was not part of the FBI's investigation.

"We are 100 percent not involved in this," Keatts said at the time. "I don't have any concerns at all about N.C. State. I have no reason to believe at all that we have anything to do with the FBI or anything else. Obviously I wasn't here, but we don't have anything on our end from a school standpoint or basketball. We don't have any red flags or concerns at all."

Demarest said Friday that the school's Office of General Counsel did not inform the current staff about the subpoena.

"Coach Keatts was not contacted about and did not know of the subpoena when he addressed the issue in February," Demarest said.

When asked about the nature of the Department of Justice's inquiry, Demarest said he was unable to expand any further than he already had.

On Sept. 27, 2017, 10 people, including four college basketball coaches, were arrested as part of the FBI's investigation into two pay-to-play schemes involving agents, recruits and college basketball coaches.

Two days later, on Sept. 29, 2017, Demarest told the News & Observer there had been no contact between anyone at N.C. State with federal investigators or the NCAA.

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