Kansas and North Carolina State were named in new federal charges that come as part the FBI's ongoing investigation into corruption in Division-I NCAA men’s basketball.
According to a report from SI.com, the FBI alleges that Adidas global marketing director for basketball, Jim Gatto, surreptitiously made two $40,000 payments to the father of a NC State player. The payments were made to assure that the player would attend NC State and would then sign a sponsorship with Adidas when he did decide to go to the NBA.
The new charges also detail how Gatto allegedly conspired to pay $90,000 in Nov. 2016 to a player’s mother to get the player to attend Kansas and to then sign with Adidas if he left for the NBA. In another instance, the FBI alleges that in Aug. 2017 Gatto made a $20,000 payment to the parent of a player who was considering a university sponsored by another athletic apparel company.
The FBI has sought to track the payments Gatto made, which in all cases were made to coaches at the school or other “co-conspirators” who then paid the players’ parents.
