MSU's Tom Izzo denies any NCAA violations
The parents of Michigan State University sophomore Miles Bridges received at least $470 from the associate of a sports agent, according to FBI documents obtained in a report from Yahoo Sports.
In a story published Friday morning, Yahoo includes several documents of the more than hundreds it said it has reviewed from an FBI investigation into the potential corruption involved with college basketball. The documents show the expenses of former NBA agent Andy Miller, the founder of ASM Sports, and his former associate, Christian Dawkins.
Dawkins is a Saginaw native who has been charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with three counts of wire fraud and one count of money-laundering conspiracy.
The documents also list loans to players and their families, some receiving tens of thousands of dollars.
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Two entries in the expense reports, according to the Yahoo report, indicate Dawkins spent $70.05 on lunch with Bridges’ parents and then made an ATM withdrawal for $400 as an advance to Bridges’ mother.
May 3, 2016: “Redwood Lodge. Lunch w/Miles Bridges Parents. $70.05.”
May 3, 2016: “ATM Withdrawal: Miles Bridges mom advance. $400."
Yahoo did not include the pages that showed Bridges’ parents being paid. It also did not show any that included Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, however, it said Dawkins had listed dinner with Izzo as one of his expenses.
On Friday afternoon, Michigan State issued two statements, from Izzo and interim AD Bill Beekman.
Izzo: “We are aware of the report in Yahoo! Sports. While we will cooperate with any and all investigations, we have no reason to believe that I, any member of our staff or student-athlete did anything in violation of NCAA rules.”
Beekman: “MSU is committed to a culture of NCAA compliance. We have proactively contacted the NCAA and Big Ten Conference. As Coach Izzo has stated, there is no evidence that he or anyone in his program, including student-athletes, did anything impermissible.”
On Friday morning, NCAA President Mark Emmert released a statement.
“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America,” the statement read. “Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules.
“Following the Southern District of New York’s indictments last year, the NCAA Board of Governors and I formed the independent Commission on College Basketball, chaired by Condoleezza Rice, to provide recommendations on how to clean up the sport. With these latest allegations, it’s clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity. We also will continue to cooperate with the efforts of federal prosecutors to identify and punish the unscrupulous parties seeking to exploit the system through criminal acts.”
At least six players are listed in the documents as taking more than $10,000 in loans, including Diamond Stone, who played during the 2015-16 season at Maryland. The documents show he received $14,303.
Also included in the report is Saginaw native Brian Bowen, a one-time Michigan State recruit who eventually signed with Louisville but was suspended by the team when his name surfaced in the original reports of the FBI investigation. He has since transferred to South Carolina but has not played.
The documents show Bowen and his family received at least $7,000 in benefits while Dawkins’ expense report lists more than $1,500 in plane tickets for Bowen, his mother and his father.
Also included in the documents were Flint native Kyle Kuzma, who is now with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Apples Jones, mother of Detroit native Josh Jackson. The report says Kuzma received at least $9,500 while playing at Utah and that Jones received $2,700 while her son was at Kansas.
mcharboneau@detroitnews.com
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