1:03 pm | May 7, 2019 | Go to Source | Author:
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Mark Schlabach
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ESPN Senior Writer
- Senior college football writer
- Author of seven books on college football
- Graduate of the University of Georgia
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Paula Lavigne
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ESPN Staff Writer
- Data analyst and reporter for ESPN’s Enterprise and Investigative Unit.
- Winner, 2014 Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award; finalist, 2012 IRE broadcast award; winner, 2011 Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism; Emmy nominated, 2009.
Former NBA referee Rashan Michel, the lone remaining defendant in the third federal criminal trial involving alleged college basketball corruption, accepted a plea deal with prosecutors on Tuesday, sources told ESPN.
Federal prosecutors accused Michel, who worked as an NBA referee from 1997 to 2001, of accepting $49,000 in bribes from September 2016 to September 2017, according to a federal complaint.
Michel was charged with six felony counts related to soliciting bribes, wire fraud and travel act conspiracy.
Former Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person, a co-defendant in the case, pleaded guilty in March to accepting about $91,500 in bribes to influence his players to sign with certain financial advisers once they turned pro. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 9 and faces up to two and a half years in federal prison.
Prosecutors alleged that Michel, who worked as a suit maker for professional athletes after leaving the NBA, introduced Marty Blazer, a cooperating witness for the government, to Person in September 2016.
Blazer allegedly made a $50,000 loan to Person, who agreed to influence his players to work with Blazer as a business manager and financial adviser. Prosecutors alleged Person would not have to repay the loan if he delivered Auburn players to Blazer as clients.
Prosecutors alleged that Person arranged for Blazer to meet with Auburn players and their parents at Person’s home in December 2016 and January 2017.
Michel’s trial was scheduled to begin in New York on June 17.
Jurors in the same courthouse on Tuesday were deliberating for a second day about whether aspiring agent Christian Dawkins and former Adidas consultant Merl Code bribed assistant coaches to steer their players toward Dawkins’ new sports management company.
Code, Dawkins and former Adidas executive James Gatto were convicted in October on conspiracy and fraud charges for their roles in pay-for-play schemes to send recruits to Adidas-sponsored schools, including Kansas, Louisville and NC State.
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