Ball payers ‘helping’
Attorneys: No bribes by agents
Three men who made secret payments to coveted basketball prospects were just trying to help universities benefit from the ballers, attorneys argued in the closing arguments of a trial that revealed the sleazy underbelly of the NCAA.
Adidas exec Jim Gatto, consultant Merl Code and aspiring sports agent Christian Dawkins face wire fraud charges for conspiring to pay $100,000 to the father of high school basketball star Brian (Tugs) Bowen so he would attend the Adidas-sponsored University of Louisville.
During remarks to the jury at the conclusion of a three-week trial, attorneys for Gatto and Code attacked the element the government must prove: that the men defrauded Louisville and other top universities.
“Defrauding the schools? That never crossed his mind. He thought he was helping. Not committing federal wire fraud,” Gatto’s attorney Michael Schachter told the jury
Code, a former Amateur Athletic Union coach, Adidas consultant and standout basketball player for Clemson University, was represented by his father, Merl Code Sr.
Code Sr. attacked the government’s case, noting that there was no evidence any illegal kickbacks to the defendants in the alleged scheme.
“If you commit a crime you don’t know how to profit by, you don’t know how to be a criminal,” Code Sr. said.
Bowen Sr. testified he’d been secretly getting paid off of his son’s skills starting when Tugs was just 13 years old. Such payments made the younger Bowen ineligible to play for the NCAA well before he committed to Louisville, Code noted.
“Tugs Bowen had been rendered ineligible as far back as 2014 because of his father taking money. You can’t kill a dead man. He was already dead!” Code said.
Tugs Bowen currently plays basketball in Australia. Pitino was fired from Louisville and has denied wrongdoing.
“The defendants’ theory of ‘helping out’ ... turned on them not getting caught,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ted Diskant said.
Deliberations are set to begin Monday.