Four NCAA basketball coaches and an Adidas manager were among 10 people who have been arrested by the FBI on fraud and corruption charges, CNBC reported.
According to the CNBC report, an investigation involving recruitment and bribery corruption led to the arrest of the 10 accused. Investigative documents filed in Manhattan’s U.S District Court on Monday revealed that bribes had allegedly been paid to assistant and associate college basketball coaches and student player families to influence the recruitment of student athletes.
Among those arrested as a result of the probe were Lamont Evans, an associate coach of Oklahoma State University; Chuck Person, an associate coach of Auburn University; Emanuel "Book" Richardson, an assistant coach of the University of Arizona; and Tony Bland, an associate coach of the University of Southern California, CNBC said.
"We were surprised to learn this morning of potential actions against one of our assistant basketball coaches by federal officials. We are reviewing and investigating the allegations,” a representative from Oklahoma State University told CNBC.
The representative went on to say that they were cooperating with the investigation fully.
None of the other schools with alleged involvement have released a statement on the matter.
Employees of sportswear giant Adidas are also alleged to have been involved in the scandal, with managers, financial advisers and representatives of the company included in the list of the accused released by the Department of Justice, according to Business Insider.
Jim Gatto, director of global sports marketing for basketball at Adidas, was on the list of defendants and is alleged to have conspired with coaches to pay high-school athletes to play at Adidas sponsored universities.
"Today, we became aware that federal investigators arrested an adidas employee," a spokeswoman from the international retailer said in a statement, shared on CNBC. "We are learning more about the situation," she wrote. "We're unaware of any misconduct and will fully cooperate with authorities to understand more."
The investigation has been in progress since 2015, and three separate complaints of fraud, bribery and corruption were filed.
News of the arrests spread on social media.