An attorney alleged in court Monday that Arizona Wildcats basketball representatives were willing to offer $150,000 in return for a recruit playing basketball at Arizona.
In the federal trial of former Adidas executive Jim Gatto, the attorney said Arizona "was going to pay or had offered to pay the money to secure the commitment of Orlando high school player Nassir Little as much as $150,000. He later committed to North Carolina.
Reporter Adam Zagoria is covering the trial and broke the news.
Gatto’s defense attorney says Gatto ‘was told Arizona was going to pay or had offered to pay (Nassir Little) $150K if he went to Arizona.
‘Jim was asked to level the playing field so Nassar could go to Miami, an Adidas school.’
Little is now at UNC, a Nike/Jordan school.
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) October 2, 2018
In 2017, the FBI arrested then-UA assistant coach Book Richardson on bribery charges related to the investigation that ensnared Gatto, sports agents and other assistant coaches.
In February, ESPN reported that FBI wiretaps recorded UA coach Sean Miller discussing a $100,000 payment to an agent on behalf of DeAndre Ayton, who played one year at UA before becoming the top NBA Draft pick. An attorney who conducted the UA's internal investigation on the matter said the ESPN report was false.
In March, Miller denied ever having directed payment to a recruit or knowingly having violating NCAA rules.
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