Kansas Crimson

holidaysmore wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:34 pm The judge added that he wanted to send "a great big warning light to the basketball world.''

And proceeded to sentence them to six, six and nine months. What a joke. With good behavior, collectively they won't end up serving even half of that.

After the sentences were announced, U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami got hyperbolically moralistic about the fact that these guys would spend time behind bars:

“The sentences imposed today only begin to reflect the magnitude of the harm these defendants caused through a scheme that not only defrauded multiple public universities but upended the lives of young student-athletes and corrupted a game cherished by so many. Today’s sentences send a clear message to those who might be similarly tempted to corrupt collegiate athletics for their own personal gain that defrauding schools in connection with athletic scholarships is not just a rules violation but a crime, one that will result in a prison term.”

What exactly was the “magnitude of the harm?” Let’s recap:

[...]

*Gatto and former Adidas consultant Thomas Gassnola (who is awaiting his own sentence) funneled $90,000 to Billy Preston’s family, and agreed to funnel money to the legal guardian of Silvio De Sousa, so both would commit to play for Adidas-sponsored Kansas.

[...]

No doubt, some harm came out of these actions.

[...]

Preston fell under NCAA investigation over the “financial picture” of his vehicle after he was involved in a car accident in November 2017, and never played a regular season game for Kansas. He left school in January of 2018 as the investigation dragged on, and he’s in the NBA’s developmental league now.

De Sousa is still at Kansas, and played as a freshman. But the NCAA ruled that he would be forced to sit out the entirety of his 2018-19 and 2019-20 season, because of something he says he didn’t even know about.

So, yes, Khuzami is right that these payments “upended the lives of young student-athletes,” but in every case the harm was caused by the NCAA’s draconian punishments for accepting money that the players should have already been entitled to. Gatto, Code, and Dawkins are by no means noble men just for giving some folks cash, but what they’re really going to prison for is simply carrying out a basic [tenet] of capitalism: paying the people who will help them make more money.

Gatto, a 48-year-old Adidas executive, was facing a recommended 46 to 57 months in prison. Instead, he got nine months.

Dawkins, a 26-year-old basketball middleman, and Code, a 45-year-old Adidas consultant, were staring at 30 to 37 months. They got six.

Kaplan then afforded them the courtesy of choosing their prison, namely whatever minimum-security federal camp was closest to their homes. How's a few months in Club Fed for you? Not that any of them are due to report until after they exhaust appeals, which could take years. It's not out of the question that the Federal Bureau of Prisons just gives them house arrest. Anything is possible.

Simply put, sentencing day couldn't have gone much better for the convicts.

"It's a fair sentence," said Dawkins’ attorney Steve Haney. "It's a lenient sentence."

As much as Kaplan wanted to take this seriously, as often as he noted that they were clearly guilty and knew what they were doing was wrong and just saying that everyone else does it also isn't a real defense ... well, this is still college basketball. Here at the Southern District of New York, cases are routinely about insider trading, drug-trafficking and terrorism.

[...]

The short sentences didn't just take the air out of the government's convictions in a case that began 18 months ago with bold talk and the promise of significant punishments. It sets the stage for the second trial in April, where Dawkins and Code are charged with bribing college assistant coaches to steer top NBA prospects to them for future representation.

If the defense has its way, then that is going to be a trial as much about the culture, and reality, of college basketball, as it is their clients.

Although Kaplan won't preside over the second trial, his sentencing suggests there’s a potential winning argument that this entire sport is a fraud, and turning NCAA rules into pseudo-federal statutes isn't fair. Diskant may have deftly won with the jury, but in the end, Judge Kaplan was sympathetic to reality.

[...]

Full of confidence following Kaplan's sentencing, the fight is on, two defendants more than willing to tear everything down because they have nothing much to lose — and maybe so little time to serve even if they do.

jfish26 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:39 pm

holidaysmore wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:34 pm The judge added that he wanted to send "a great big warning light to the basketball world.''

And proceeded to sentence them to six, six and nine months. What a joke. With good behavior, collectively they won't end up serving even half of that.

The warning being what exactly? Don't you fucking dare play a part in poor, black gets getting compensated closer to their worth?

Great. Glad we're here.

Gqcolorado wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 7:32 am

jfish26 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:39 pm

holidaysmore wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:34 pm The judge added that he wanted to send "a great big warning light to the basketball world.''

And proceeded to sentence them to six, six and nine months. What a joke. With good behavior, collectively they won't end up serving even half of that.

The warning being what exactly? Don't you fucking dare play a part in poor, black gets getting compensated closer to their worth?

Great. Glad we're here.

Only problem I have with that statement is that it focuses on the poor, black kids being victims, instead of focusing on a giant mostly white controlled executive group being villains.

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 7:41 am

Gqcolorado wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 7:32 am

jfish26 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:39 pm

The warning being what exactly? Don't you fucking dare play a part in poor, black gets getting compensated closer to their worth?

Great. Glad we're here.

Only problem I have with that statement is that it focuses on the poor, black kids being victims, instead of focusing on a giant mostly white controlled executive group being villains.

If you truly believe the “villain” part of your statement, then you believe the bs that KU and all the other schools are big victims in this whole thing. Because that’s the only route to this being a punishable crime.

Gqcolorado wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 8:52 am Oh, and definitely don’t think this is a punishable crime...these dudes are middle men for middle men for middle men.

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:00 am

Gqcolorado wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 8:52 am Oh, and definitely don’t think this is a punishable crime...these dudes are middle men for middle men for middle men.

Gotcha. It's just that the only way to vilify the adidas middle men is to say they defrauded KU, and KU is the poor victim entitled to $1.2 million.

Silvio became collateral damage, but that's because of the NCAA's backward ass rules.

CrimsonNBlue wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 9:06 am Agree, but more accurately, these 3 bag men are the scapegoats.

There's just no guilty verdict without the prosecutor and the schools saying the schools were fucked over.

I of course don't believe that, thus I don't find these guys to be some awful villains--which was jfish's point. Behind bars for 9 months for giving a basketball player money for being good at basketball.

jfish26 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 1:26 pm ...can't tell if serious:

jfish26 wrote: ↑Thu Mar 07, 2019 2:14 pm At this point, self-reporting or self-imposing punishments is a fireable offense for an AD or coach.