Stone’s name mentioned in FBI’s NCAA probe
Diamond Stone, a former Dominican High School standout who played one year at Maryland, appeared in documents that are part of a federal investigation into college basketball corruption.
Stone received a payment for $14,303 as a freshman at Maryland, according to documents obtained by Yahoo Sports. He is currently playing in the NBA G League.
Yahoo said Friday that the documents obtained in discovery during the investigation link current players including Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Duke’s Wendell Carter and Alabama’s Collin Sexton to potential benefits that would be violations of NCAA rules.
According to the report, players over the past several years and family members allegedly received cash, entertainment and travel expenses from former NBA agent Andy Miller and his agency ASM Sports.
Line items in four pages of documents released by Yahoo showed some five-figure payments and two dinners for less than $40 each.
New details of payments to players in a federal investigation that has lurked in the shadows since first rocking college basketball last fall mark the latest threat to the sport’s basic foundation, showing the breadth of alleged corruption.
Bank records and other expense reports that are part of the investigation list a wide range of impermissible payments from agents to at least two dozen players or their relatives, according to documents obtained by Yahoo Sports.
Alabama, Duke, Kentucky, LSU, Maryland, Michigan State, NC State, North Carolina, Seton Hall, Texas, USC, Washington and Xavier are among the schools implicated in the Yahoo report.
The depth of the violations raises questions about the structure of college athletics, a business funded primarily through college football and basketball, including $19.6 billion in TV money for the NCAA Tournament over the past 22 years – a hoops extravaganza for American sports fans known as March Madness.
NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement Friday the allegations “if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America.”
A balance sheet from December 2015 lists several payments under “Loan to Players,” including $43,500 to Dallas Mavericks guard Dennis Smith, who played one season at North Carolina State in 2016-’17. Another document says Smith received a total of $73,500 in loans, and indicated options to recoup the money after Smith didn’t sign with ASM.
Isaiah Whitehead, a guard for the Brooklyn Nets, received $26,136 while a freshman at Seton Hall, according to the documents. He received $37,657 and was setting up a payment plan, according to another document. Whitehead signed with ASM but later left the agency. A balance sheet also said Tim Quarterman, now playing for the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBA G League, received at least $16,000 while a junior at LSU.
The story says several families of players or handlers received more than $1,000 in payments from ASM Sports before turning professional.
Apple Jones, the mother of former Kansas player Josh Jackson, received $2,700, and current Southern California player Bennie Boatwright or his father Bennie Sr., received at least $2,000, according to documents.
The story says the mother of Bridges received hundreds of dollars in advances. Current Kentucky player Kevin Knox, Carter and Sexton are listed among players or families meeting or having meals with former ASM Sports associate Christian Dawkins.
San Diego State has provisionally suspended senior forward Malik Pope, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, while its compliance department investigates whether he received a $1,400 loan.