Lawyer: Evidence shows that coaches knew about family payments from the NCAA
Lawyer: Evidence shows that coaches knew about family payments from the NCAA
A lawyer for an Adidas employee for a long time urged juries on Thursday to use common sense and evidence to conclude college basketball Trainers such as Bill Self in Kansas and Rick Pitino in Louisville knew that the shoe companies were paying money to families of elite athletes to guide them to their schools.
Attorney Michael Schachter, representing Adidas sports marketing manager James "Jim" Gatto, cited the testimony and evidence that emerged during the fraud trial against Gatto, sports agent candidate Christopher Dawkins and Merl Code, a former adidas advisor.
"Ladies and gentlemen, what help do you think a coach thought Jim Gatto was going to provide to persuade a boy to go to his university?" I ask. "Jim works for a shoe company, he's not a vocational counselor, kids do not go to him for help going to college."
US attorney assistant Edward Diskant, who has portrayed the schools and, sometimes, his coaches as victims of the defendants, said in a final statement that the coaches were not "running amok."
"Nothing could be further from the truth," said the prosecutor, highlighting the protocols implemented in schools to ensure compliance with NCAA standards.
He said the defendants concealed the payments from the coaches, knowing that they would be fired if they facilitated payments to the families of the players.
"Does that mean some of the coaches did not break the rules? No, it's possible they did," Diskant said.
The prosecutor noted that there was no mention of money in two voice messages that Gatto left for Pitino. He also cited evidence that Dawkins, speaking of a financial payment, told the Bowen family: "I would never tell Rick something like that because I do not want to put him in danger."
Schachter told jurors that the government's star witness, former adidas consultant Thomas "T.J." Gassnola lied when he declared that he was hiding from the universities the fact that cash was being paid to the families of the best recruits.
He cited Gassnola's testimony about an assistant coach from the state of North Carolina. Gassnola, who pleaded guilty to criminal charges and cooperated with prosecutors, told jurors that he handed cash back in 2015 to Coach Orlando Early, who planned to give it to a personal trainer for point guard Dennis Smith Jr., so it could be broadcast. a The athlete's family.
Schachter said the evidence shows that Self "knew and asked for a payment to be made to Silvio De Sousa's manager."
The lawyer added: "More than that, Coach Self requested the kind of help Mr. Gassnola organized as a condition for Coach Self to allow Adidas to continue its sponsorship agreement with the University of Kansas."
Schachter also cited a conversation his client had at the end of May 2017 with Pitino, saying it happened right after Code told Gatto he needed money for the family of Louisville recruit Brian Bowen Jr. because the University of Oregon, a school of Nike, had achieved "astronomical offer" to recruit him.
Schachter said that Gatto wanted to be sure that Pitino wanted Bowen before spending his employer's money.
"Why, precisely, would the head coach at Louisville think that a representative of a shoe company wants to talk to him about a player?" Schachter asked. "Ladies and gentlemen, I assure you that the only explanation that makes sense is that Coach Pitino knows exactly why Jim is calling to talk about a player."
Bowen made a commitment to Louisville on June 1, 2017, although he never played at the school. Now he plays professionally in Australia. Pitino, a legendary coach, was never charged with a crime, but was fired in the middle of the consequences of the investigation.
North Carolina State announced last year that Early and the school's head coach left the program months before the corruption case was made public.
Smith played one year at NC State. Now he plays for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.
De Sousa is a second year student in Kansas.
The jury is likely to begin deliberations on Monday.
---
Associated Press writer Tom Hays contributed to this report.
.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '369524843414444');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario