(New York, NY) -- An acting U.S. Attorney in New York is shedding some light on what he calls the dark underbelly of college basketball.
Joon H. Kim announced today at a press conference that federal criminal charges have been brought against ten people, including four top-tier college basketball assistant coaches, managers, financial advisers and representatives of a major international sportswear company, widely reported to be Adidas.
Kim says coaches at some of the nation's top programs took cash bribes to deliver star athletes to an adviser or agent.
He also said employees of the sportswear company funneled cash to the families of college recruits to have them play at schools sponsored by the company. Court documents show the assistant coaches charged in the corruption scheme are Arizona's Emanuel Richardson, Auburn's Chuck Person, Oklahoma State's Lamont Evans, and USC's Tony Bland.
Kim said the bribes and payouts ranged from 13-thousand-dollars up to 100-thousand.
The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office have been investigating the criminal influence of money on coaches and NCAA student-athletes since 2015.