Dick Weiss on College Basketball
The college basketball corruption trial provided more fireworks in a Manhattan court room Wednesday when T.J Gassnola, a former consultant for Adidas, testified he secretly paid the families of five recruits, including former 7-0 Arizona star Deandre Ayton, the first pick overall in the 2018 NBA draft.
Gassnola testified he also paid money to families of current Kansas player Silvio De Sousa, former Kansas player Billy Preston, former NC State guard Dennis Smith Jr. and former Louisville player Brian Bowden.
Gassnola, a government witness, also testified to conspiring with Jim Gatto, Merl Code and Christian Dawkins—the three defendants in this trial, all who pleaded not guilty to concealing payments from schools and the NCAA.
Gassnola, who coached the Adidas-sponsored New England Playaz since 2004, became an outside consultant in 2015. Adidas paid Gassnola $75,000 annually to run the Playaz and provided another $70,000 in travel expenses. Gassnola testified he was paid an additional $150,000 from 2015-17 for consulting duties and another $200,000-$300,000 for reimbursement for travel expenses. Gassnola admitted to years of tax evasion and is currently $60,000 to the IRS. He also pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraude. By cutting a deal, he is attempting to void a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
In the words of Dan Wetzel from Yahoo, Gassnola is no choir boy. Gassnola acknowledged as much on the stand he defrauded people by passing sham checks, used a charitable foundation attached to his travel team program to pay himself, failed to pay taxes for year and cheated on loan applications. He pleaded guilty of tax evasion last March and in $60,00 in debt to the IRS. So he cut a deal with the feds to testify as a government witness in an attempt to avoid a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.
Gassnola set off a bomb when he was asked by the prosecutor how he got money for players’ families for Adidas. “Ask Jimmy,’’ Gassnola said, referring to Gatto, the Adidas executive who was sitting 20 feet away.
The prosecution—which is trying to show schools were defrauded when players were steered and paid to play for certain programs—produced an email from Adidas grassroots executive Chris Rivers, who described the shoe company’s “Black Opps’ strategy to sign elite players. Gassnola said he helped orchestrate a $25,000 payment to the family of Brian Bowen II to play for the Adidas sponsored Michigan Mustangs. Gassnola testified he paid $7,000 in cash and delivered it in an envelope placed in a magazine. Gassnola said he paid $7,000 in cash. The rest of the money was given to the family by Rivers.
There were no specifics in how much money each player and their families received but more details are expected to come out Thursday when Gassnola continues to testify.
As for DeSousa, the only active player implicated, his status remains unchanged as an eligible student-athlete. Kansas compliance director Jed Smith was on the stand prior to Gassnola and said the school became aware of potential eligibility issues with De Sousa in April. Smith denied he knew anything about the $20,000 deal set up for DeSousa by Adidas, in addition to an alleged signed overseas paper agreement and involvement with an agent for a pro team in Spain and signed by DeSousa.
