The Barometer checked in on the four assistant coaches in the FBI case of the alleged bribery scheme involving Adidas and payments for basketball recruits saying “Yes!” to their schools. University of Arizona assistant basketball coach, Emanuel “Book” Richardson entered a not guilty plea and was released on a $50,000 bond. Prosecutors originally requested $100,000 but Book’s lawyer, Brick Storts, persuaded the court that the amount of $100,000 was “totally unreasonable.” Dear reader, lest you think the Barometer dosed off in typing this paragraph, we do indeed have a defendant named Book being represented by a lawyer named Brick Storts. These names have made the spell checker give up, and this case just keeps getting better. Storts declined to reveal who was paying him (his brothers Clay and Lumber also refused to comment) but did offer that it was not the University of Arizona.
USC’s Tony Bland has hired the New York attorney who defended John Gotti Jr. and drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. The U.S. Attorney who brought the charges said that he was exposing the “dark underbelly of college basketball,” and he was apparently not kidding.
The University of Arizona said it was “appalled” at the charges and suspended Book. USC suspended Bland and said that it was “shocked.” Auburn University suspended assistant coach Chuck Person Auburn who was also charged, adding that it was “saddened, angry, and disappointed.” Oklahoma State said it was “surprised” and suspended assistant coach Lamont Evans, also charged. The NCAA found the charges to be “deeply disturbing.” The U.S. Attorney said that the men circled “blue-chip prospects like coyotes.” Former University of Louisville head coach Rick Pitino said the charges that Adidas had paid one of his recruits came as a “complete shock.” He was not charged in the indictment, but he was fired by the university, whose feelings at this point remain unknown. The Barometer expects that they too are shocked, surprised, appalled, saddened, angry, disappointed, and deeply disturbed.
The FBI was tipped off by a financial adviser from Pittsburgh who caught the FBI’s attention for embezzlement from his professional athlete clients. In exchange for the FBI telling his sentencing judge about his cooperation on the NCAA matters, Louis Martin Blazer served as the FNI’s cooperating witness on the basketball bribery investigation. The U.S. Attorney added that the investigation is ongoing and issued a warning to coaches who may be involved in such skullduggery, “We have your playbook.”
About mmjdiary
Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD.
The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards.
Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio.
She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News.
In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles.
Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
