Sports
South Carolina Gets Notice of Allegations in Connection to FBI Corruption Probe
Sue Ogrocki/Associated PressThe NCAA reportedly has alleged that South Carolina committed a Level I violation in a Notice of Allegations sent to the school, according to Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated. Per that report, the alleged violation is related to the federal investigation into corruption in college basketball:”The association charged the school with a single Level I violation for…
Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press
The NCAA reportedly has alleged that South Carolina committed a Level I violation in a Notice of Allegations sent to the school, according to Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated.
Per that report, the alleged violation is related to the federal investigation into corruption in college basketball:
“The association charged the school with a single Level I violation for [former assistant coach Lamont Evans] allegedly accepting at least $5,865 in bribes in 2015-16 from agent and runner Christian Dawkins. The bribes were in exchange for Evans arranging meetings between Dawkins and former Gamecocks guard P.J. Dozier and his family, in the hopes of swaying them to retain the agency Dawkins was working for, ASM Sports, which was run by Andy Miller.”
In June, Evans was sentenced to three months in prison for accepting bribes in a part of the investigation into college basketball recruiting that also implicated a number of former college basketball assistants, former Adidas executive James Gatto, former Adidas and Nike employee Merl Code Jr. and sports agent Christian Dawkins.
Emanuel “Book” Richardson, a former Arizona assistant coach, was also sentenced to three months, while former USC assistant Tony Bland received 100 hours of community service. Former Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person was sentenced to 200 hours of community service.
Gatto was sentenced to nine months in prison, while Code and Dawkins each received six-month prison sentences.
Evans pleaded guilty in Jan. 2019 to bribery conspiracy for accepting $22,000 in bribes between 2016-17. Oklahoma State, where Evans also worked as an assistant, received a Notice of Allegations as well in November and is disputing its own alleged Level I violation, per Forde.
NC State, Kansas, USC and TCU have also received NOAs, while Forde noted that Auburn, Louisville, Arizona, LSU and Alabama are currently under investigation.
The South Carolina NOA, however, is more “limited” than those other schools have received in the wake of the federal probe, with Forde noting that “there are no allegations of failure to monitor the program, head-coach responsibility or lack of institutional control.”
He also noted that the NOA doesn't accuse Dozier of accepting money from Evans or Dawkins, and that his season at the school doesn't appear to be in danger of being vacated.
Dozier, 23, is in his third NBA season and currently plays for the Denver Nuggets.
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