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[color= rgb(255, 0, 0)]So for the last couple of days I've been following what seemed to be a minor to extremely Major story. Didn't see a thread on this. I Love The U.[/color]
[color= rgb(255, 0, 0)]here is the original Yahoo story:[/color]
[color= rgb(255, 0, 0)]here is the original Yahoo story:[/color]
Spoiler [+]
[h1]Renegade Miami football booster spells out illicit benefits to players[/h1]
By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports Aug 16, 5:37 pm EDT
Nevin Shapiro and a second source said this photoof the booster and Kellen Winslow Jr. was taken in Shapiro’s VIPsection of Opium Garden nightclub in 2003.
KEARNY, N.J. – A University of Miami booster, incarcerated for his role in a $930 million Ponzi scheme, has told Yahoo! Sports he provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010.
In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion.
Also among the revelations were damning details of Shapiro’s co-ownership of a sports agency – Axcess Sports & Entertainment – for nearly his entire tenure as a Hurricanes booster. The same agency that signed two first-round picks from Miami, Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason, and recruited dozens of others while Shapiro was allegedly providing cash and benefits to players. In interviews with federal prosecutors, Shapiro said many of those same players were also being funneled cash and benefits by his partner at Axcess, then-NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue. Shapiro said he also made payments on behalf of Axcess, including a $50,000 lump sum to Wilfork, as a recruiting tool for the agency.
In an effort to substantiate the booster’s claims, Yahoo! Sports audited approximately 20,000 pages of financial and business records from his bankruptcy case, more than 5,000 pages of cell phone records, multiple interview summaries tied to his federal Ponzi case, and more than 1,000 photos. Nearly 100 interviews were also conducted with individuals living in six different states. In the process, documents, photos and 21 human sources – including nine former Miami players or recruits, and one former coach – corroborated multiple parts of Shapiro’s rule-breaking.
While the NCAA declined comment, Miami associate AD for communications Chris Freet told Yahoo! Sports the school has been cooperating with an NCAA probe to unravel claims the booster has made to investigators. He added that the university unsuccessfully sought an interview with the booster last summer.
This package of Axcess Sports documents shows Nevin Shapiro’s stake in the agency, which signed two first round picks from the Hurricanes - Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason. It includes a balance sheet from 2007 which shows Shapiro’s initial $1.5 million investment in the agency in 2003. It also shows the year-end filing reports from the agency which add Shapiro as a co-owner in February 2004 - more than a year after Shapiro says he first started recruiting Miami players for the agency. Shapiro remained on the filings through 2008, when the agency eventually halted operations. PDF file
(Special to Yahoo! Sports)
“When Shapiro made his allegations nearly a year ago, he and his attorneys refused to provide any facts to the university,
By Charles Robinson, Yahoo! Sports Aug 16, 5:37 pm EDT
Nevin Shapiro and a second source said this photoof the booster and Kellen Winslow Jr. was taken in Shapiro’s VIPsection of Opium Garden nightclub in 2003.
KEARNY, N.J. – A University of Miami booster, incarcerated for his role in a $930 million Ponzi scheme, has told Yahoo! Sports he provided thousands of impermissible benefits to at least 72 athletes from 2002 through 2010.
In 100 hours of jailhouse interviews during Yahoo! Sports’ 11-month investigation, Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro described a sustained, eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking, some of it with the knowledge or direct participation of at least seven coaches from the Miami football and basketball programs. At a cost that Shapiro estimates in the millions of dollars, he said his benefits to athletes included but were not limited to cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play (including bounties for injuring opposing players), travel and, on one occasion, an abortion.
Also among the revelations were damning details of Shapiro’s co-ownership of a sports agency – Axcess Sports & Entertainment – for nearly his entire tenure as a Hurricanes booster. The same agency that signed two first-round picks from Miami, Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason, and recruited dozens of others while Shapiro was allegedly providing cash and benefits to players. In interviews with federal prosecutors, Shapiro said many of those same players were also being funneled cash and benefits by his partner at Axcess, then-NFL agent and current UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue. Shapiro said he also made payments on behalf of Axcess, including a $50,000 lump sum to Wilfork, as a recruiting tool for the agency.
In an effort to substantiate the booster’s claims, Yahoo! Sports audited approximately 20,000 pages of financial and business records from his bankruptcy case, more than 5,000 pages of cell phone records, multiple interview summaries tied to his federal Ponzi case, and more than 1,000 photos. Nearly 100 interviews were also conducted with individuals living in six different states. In the process, documents, photos and 21 human sources – including nine former Miami players or recruits, and one former coach – corroborated multiple parts of Shapiro’s rule-breaking.
While the NCAA declined comment, Miami associate AD for communications Chris Freet told Yahoo! Sports the school has been cooperating with an NCAA probe to unravel claims the booster has made to investigators. He added that the university unsuccessfully sought an interview with the booster last summer.
This package of Axcess Sports documents shows Nevin Shapiro’s stake in the agency, which signed two first round picks from the Hurricanes - Vince Wilfork and Jon Beason. It includes a balance sheet from 2007 which shows Shapiro’s initial $1.5 million investment in the agency in 2003. It also shows the year-end filing reports from the agency which add Shapiro as a co-owner in February 2004 - more than a year after Shapiro says he first started recruiting Miami players for the agency. Shapiro remained on the filings through 2008, when the agency eventually halted operations. PDF file
(Special to Yahoo! Sports)
“When Shapiro made his allegations nearly a year ago, he and his attorneys refused to provide any facts to the university,
