Federal investigators are not buying Rick Pitino’s claims of innocence relating to the Adidas recruiting scandal.
Newly unsealed federal indictments indicate that Pitino — not named, but identified as Coach-2 in documents — both knew of and explicitly directed payments from Adidas executive Jim Gatto to potential recruits.
While this information could have been suspected from previous documents, it is the first direct evidence of Pitino’s explicit involvement in the scandal.
NBC NEWS: Indictments unsealed in NCAA fraud and bribery case allege that Rick Pitino ("coach-2") had knowledge of and directed payments to players. pic.twitter.com/npMZtRpRyH
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) November 8, 2017
One of the people originally charged is now cooperating and the indictment indicates that they can attest to Pitino's actions.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) November 8, 2017
If accurate, this runs completely counter to Pitino’s public denials of knowledge or wrongdoing. It also means that the former Louisville coach could, in theory, end up becoming a target of the investigation.
H/T TheSpun
