NEW YORK— The college basketball corruption and bribery trail is entering its closing stages and the defense may have to make a major decision whether to put co-defendants Christian Dawkins and Merl Code on the stand in a bombshell moment that would severely damage the image of the sport by revealing the dark heart of its ugly underworld and the failure of the NCAA to monitor its own amateur rules.
Critical wiretapped phone calls that have yet to be entered into evidence were being debated by prosecutors and defense attorneys last night. Then Judge Edgardo Ramos will make the call on what gets played for the jury. Some are expected to be included. Others will not,
The defense wants all of the calls entered into evidence so the jury can hear them, feeling they can only help their case. If not, Code or Dawkins and may have to take the stand if they want the best chance to sway the jury into voting for a not guilty verdict. Their testimony would be riveting.
The prosecution finished up with its witnesses Monday but not before Steve Haney, Christian Dawkins’ attorney, did his best to tear down the credibility of Munish Sood, who partnered with Dawkins in their fledgling sports management agency and pleaded guilty of three felony counts of bribery in the first trial, agreeing to become a cooperating witness for the government, during cross at the Federal Court House in lower Manhattan.
Haney claimed Sood cut a deal with the government and was motivated to turn on Dawkins in hopes of shortening what could be a 35-year prison term. Among other things, Haney said NBA agent Steve Pina would give money to college players families, via Andy Miller’s agency ASM, and that Pina sought out Sood “to help him pay athletes while still in college.’’
Sood testified that he paid $2,000 a month to Kyle Kuzma’s handler, knowing he was breaking the rules when Kuzma was playing for Utah before he signed with the NBA Lakers.
The prosecution also dropped a few nuggets of interest, zeroing in on Dawkins’ rerlationship with former USC assistant coach Tony Bland, who has already pleaded guilty in this case after being arrested last fall and indicted for steering college players to a sports agent in exchange of cash.
In a wire tapped call of an Aug. 2017 meeting with Sood, Bland says he believed the Trojans have six draftable players. He was aware Dawkins is targeting his players. “He could have whoever he wants but he’s so selective,” Bland said. From there, they zeroed in on 6-5 wing De’Anthony Melton, who missed his entire sophomore season eventually withdrew from school in Feb. 2018 his inclusion in an FBI report into corruption, and 6-8 recruit Taeshon Cherry, who originally committed to USC but reneged after the Trojans became embroiled in the scandal and eventually signed with Arizona State; was talking about ‘the bread” that needed to be given to their “people’’ and “the (Marvin) Bagley situation or whatever may come up in the future.”
Sood testified that after that meeting, Dawkins set up a meeting with Melton’s uncle and an uncover FBI agent. Sood testified Bland was aware of the meeting.
“I met with the guy his uncle, at Adidas Nations,’’ Dawkins says on a wiretapped call. “They want a lot of f ….king mon (ey).’’
The most glaring things Dawkins said in Monday’s calls involved an alleged payment to the father of former Alabama star Collin Sexton. “I got to give Collin Sexton’s dad $20 grand,’’ Dawkins said. There is no proof that ever happened.
Arizona, which had been the focus of attention during Monday’s firestorm of tape-recorded accusations, is already preparing for the fall out. Boston-based attorney Paul Kelly, who was retained by the school to handle NCAA-related issues from the federal investigation, was in court to watch Tuesday’s session.
