United States v. Gatto

295 F. Supp. 3d 336
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Illinois
DecidedFebruary 28, 2018
Docket17–cr–0686 (LAK)
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 295 F. Supp. 3d 336 (United States v. Gatto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Gatto, 295 F. Supp. 3d 336 (S.D. Ill. 2018).

Opinion

Lewis A. Kaplan, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendants' joint motion to dismiss the indictment. The Court denied the motion in open court on February 15, 2018, but stated that it would render an opinion in due course. This is that opinion.

Facts

The following facts are alleged in the indictment,1 the truth of which the Court is bound to assume when considering a motion.2 The Court does not consider "[c]ontrary *339assertions of fact by the defendants."3

A. The Parties

This indictment charges a conspiracy among defendants, certain basketball coaches of the Universities of Louisville and Miami, and certain student basketball players and/or their families.

Defendant James Gatto is an executive at "Company-1," a multi-national corporation that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing, and accessories for various sports, including basketball. Company-1 sponsors the athletic programs of a number of universities with highly ranked National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA") Division I men's basketball teams.4 During the relevant period, defendant Gatto oversaw significant components of Company-1's high school and college basketball programs, defendant Merl Code consulted for Company-1 on its high school and college basketball programs, and defendant Christian Dawkins was an aspiring business manager for professional athletes.5

B. NCAA Regulations

The NCAA is a non-profit organization that regulates athletics for colleges and universities. NCAA member schools are organized into three separate divisions: Divisions I, II, and III. Division I is the "highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the NCAA."6 Schools with Division I athletics programs typically have the largest athletics budgets and offer the most athletic scholarships, subject to NCAA regulations.7

One of the hallmarks of the NCAA is that the students who compete in NCAA programs must be amateur, rather than professional, athletes. To preserve the amateur status of any student-athlete that plays for an NCAA Division I school, the schools and current and prospective student-athletes are subject to certain rules, including that (1) any financial assistance to student-athletes other than from the school itself or from the athletes' parents or legal guardians is prohibited unless expressly authorized by the NCAA, and (2) student-athletes, prospective student-athletes, and their relatives are prohibited from accepting any benefits, including money, travel, clothing or other merchandise, directly or indirectly from a financial advisor or an agent (which is defined broadly to include anyone "who, directly or indirectly ... seeks to obtain any type of financial gain or benefit ... from a student-athlete's potential earnings as a professional athlete").8

Student-athletes who are recruited in violation of NCAA rules are ineligible to play.9 In addition, the indictment lists various penalties to which any school or individual found to be in violation of an NCAA rule may be subject, including limitations on the school's participation in post-season play in the relevant sport, limitations on the school's funding from the NCAA, and various financial penalties.10

*340Accordingly, student-athletes and coaches are required to make certain representations related to NCAA rule violations to the Division I schools for whom they play and work. Student-athletes are required annually to attest to their amateur status and to report any violations of NCAA rules involving the student-athlete and the school.11 Coaches are required to certify annually that they have reported to their school any knowledge of NCAA rule violations involving the school.12

C. The Alleged Scheme

The indictment alleges that defendants and their co-conspirators schemed to pay bribes to certain high school basketball players bound for NCAA Division I universities and/or their families in exchange for commitments by the students to matriculate at specific universities and then retain Dawkins' services and sign with Company-1 once they turned professional.

The allegations against defendants specifically relate to the University of Louisville and the University of Miami, both Division I schools.13 With respect to the University of Louisville, the indictment alleges that defendants conspired to funnel approximately $100,000 from Company-1 to the family of a high school basketball player who had not yet committed to a particular university. The $100,000 payment was to be made to the family indirectly through a third-party in four installments, but the student's family received only one such installment payment before defendants were arrested.14 Similarly, the indictment alleges that defendants conspired to funnel approximately $150,000 to a high-school basketball player and/or his family at the request of certain coaches at the University of Miami in order to induce that player to matriculate at the University of Miami.15

Defendants are charged with conspiring to use interstate or foreign wires in furtherance of the scheme to defraud by making, agreeing to make, and concealing bribe payments to the high-school basketball players and/or their families in exchange for the players' commitments to play basketball at the University of Louisville and the University of Miami, thereby (1) causing the universities to agree to provide athletic scholarships to student-athletes who in fact were ineligible to compete as a result of the bribe payments, and (2) depriving the universities of significant and necessary information regarding the players' and coaches' non-compliance with NCAA rules, thereby interfering with the universities' ability to control the use of their assets, including the decision of how to allocate a limited amount of athletic scholarships, and exposing the universities to tangible economic harm, including monetary and other penalties imposed by the NCAA.16

Discussion

Although they do not put it in precisely these terms, defendants move to dismiss the indictment pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 12(b)(3)(B)(v) and 47. They contend that *341the indictment fails to allege a crime because it fails to allege that:

• The purpose of the alleged scheme was to injure the universities. To the contrary, defendants claim that the indictment alleges that their goal was "to help them."
• The defendants "sought to obtain money or property for themselves from ... the alleged victims."
• The defendants' purpose was to deprive the universities of money or property.
• The alleged scheme "was to be accomplished by means of material misrepresentations."17

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Related

United States v. Raniere
384 F. Supp. 3d 282 (E.D. New York, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
295 F. Supp. 3d 336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gatto-ilsd-2018.