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Chuck Person


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8 hours ago, TigerFanAU said:

Why exactly wasn't Kobie Baker arrested? If anything his offenses are worse off since he was a former employee for the NCAA and was in charge of enforcement for basketball.  He knew all the rules and loopholes.

 

Baker is “Staff Member 1” in the FBI complaints. He is alleged to have accepted $15,000 in total from Martin Blazer, who is the cooperating witness in the complaint, in an effort to get players in the Alabama program to retain Blazer’s services as a financial advisor.

In late August, a meeting was set up between Baker, Blazer and a suit-designer that was arrested on Tuesday to meet with a highly-rated Alabama freshman at a restaurant in Atlanta. Collin Sexton, a top ten prospect in the Class of 2017 and a freshman at Alabama, is from Atlanta.

Baker was alleged to have received $10,000 from Blazer at that meeting.

 

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2017/09/27/alabama-basketball-administrator-kobie-baker-resigns-fbi-investigation

I can't keep shaking the feeling that Martin Blazer was just the domino the FBI / NCAA needed.  Given his past, he was probably looking at three strikes with wire fraud (that leads to RICO and racketeering charges possibly.)  Point is, FBI gave him a deal that couldn't be refused.  The uneasiness is Martin Blazer playground just wasn't basketball. 

"In 2015, Blazer was also linked to an investigation of improper cash payments to University of North Carolina football players. A grand jury indicted former Tar Heels player Christopher Hawkins for violating the state's sports agent law by giving money to a UNC player and illegally contacting another about signing a contract. During the investigation, former UNC linebacker Robert Quinn told state investigators that Hawkins gave Quinn money to steer him to Blazer and agent Peter Schaffer, according to court documents."

For the following some overzealous SI investigator turned a fact write-up into a hit piece.  I guess he figures big names will get you more clicks.  

"Sometime during the fall of 2016, a mutual friend introduced Blazer to Rashan Michel, a former NBA and Southeastern Conference referee. After leaving his NBA referee role in 2001, Michel opened Thompson Bespoke Clothiers in Atlanta, which sold high-end, custom-tailored suits. His clients included NFL players such as Todd Gurley, Teddy Bridgewater, Sammy Watkins and Mike Evans, among others. In 2014, Michel designed the suits worn by the top seven picks in the NFL draft, according to his social media account.

"This past spring, former LSU tailback Leonard Fournette and former Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson were among the players who wore Michel's suits on the first night of the NFL draft."

Again the SI writer is just offering names for clicks - but the reason is:

"After the mutual friend introduced Michel to Blazer, Michel told Blazer -- in a series of phone calls in the fall of 2016 -- that Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person needed money. "In exchange for such money, Person would agree to steer student-athletes to [Auburn's] basketball team to retain [Blazer's] financial advisory and business management services," according to the complaint.

So here we have Michel facilitating (think collusion) and Michel rubs shoulders with big names.  Michel could be NCAA's equivalent of deep throat.  It all depends on how dirty he is.  Hopefully he stuck to selling suits and his call to Person was a one off.  (Really?)  I imagine Michel is going through a examination that none of us would envy.  I just wonder if this tips a little bit into other sports or the writer is indeed trading football names for clicks.  No doubt the fan is spinning on high and the poo is flying at the NCAA offices.

The other element I spoke of in an earlier post relates to how the indictment itself holds up.  The FBI certainly knows how to come at you with both barrels. But I think indictment's scope seems to exceed the boundaries of law and also addressed violations of NCAA rules.  Really?  Some portions are included to demonstrate willful intent - but the federal charges are explicit: fraud, misrepresentation, wire-fraud, interstate commerce, mis-representation, license violations, etc. (throw a few tax laws in there as well.)  Statements about hiding it from NCAA and teammates demonstrates collusion but is "hiding it from NCAA and teammates" illegal?  I think the idiots who violated the law should be punished fully - but I fully expect to see some interesting challenges to the scope of the indictment and the FBI authority to review the actions in regard to NCAA policy.  Then again, perhaps the full FBI report will address NCAA policy leading to such behavior (entrapment defense.).  Wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth?

I guess we should also keep firmly in mind that even though the world found out this week the investigation is a couple years old.  The "call us before we call you" may have some teeth in it.

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1 hour ago, GwillMac6 said:

Only a matter of time before Person gets the boot.

I would imagine they have to let the case play out in court before they officially terminate him because if he somehow skates on this (which seems a low probability), I presume he could sue for wrongful termination. 

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2 minutes ago, Woodstock Tiger said:

I would imagine they have to let the case play out in court before they fire him because if he somehow skates on this, I presume he could sue for wrongful termination. 

I guess that's possible but AU can fire him anytime they want for no reason whatsoever....but might be liable for the rest of his contract.  I notice  that several schools have already done the same thing....some fired their coaches and others just suspended without pay.  AU fired Sunny on much less suspicion of NCAA violations and made it stick.   Strange thing in that case was that AU was claiming that CSG committed some NCAA violations which made it possible to fire him for cause....they were very minor and the school had no risk of penalties.   I'm pretty sure in this case the school will not voluntarily admit that CP has violated NCAA regulations...which would be of the type that could severely cost the school. 

However things go in the next few months (or longer)  the end result will be the same.  This interim step is probably just to protect AU against any severance.  Nobody really believes do they,  that if CP  happened to skate on some technicality that AU would hire him back? 

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So I know somewhere in the last 5 pages, someone yesterday said there was new information coming out around noon today. Did this happen?And what was it if so?

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3 minutes ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

So I know somewhere in the last 5 pages, someone yesterday said there was new information coming out around noon today. Did this happen?And what was it if so?

that was about a federal epa case in birmingham. Somebody got all excited and ran with it without reading it

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4 minutes ago, Auburn2Eugene said:

So I know somewhere in the last 5 pages, someone yesterday said there was new information coming out around noon today. Did this happen?And what was it if so?

It was not basketball related. Non related corruption charges.

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1 hour ago, Randman5000 said:

Pearl is going to meet with reporters today. Somebody should post on here what happens for us people who can't get away from meetings

The fact that pearl is going to be speaking, speaks volumes.

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Yeah him being available to speak is definitely big. Will also be interesting seeing who isn't out there practicing. I'd think if everyone is there, that's another big deal - but prob won't mean anything come time to start the season

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18 minutes ago, Ryan Sanders said:

Yeah him being available to speak is definitely big. Will also be interesting seeing who isn't out there practicing. I'd think if everyone is there, that's another big deal - but prob won't mean anything come time to start the season

The bold would be the worst part of it from a nosey fan's perspective haha. I'm dying to know how I can tempter my expectations for the season based upon who we will be losing!

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My brain keeps wanting Blazer to be the suit guy, not Michel, which makes this whole thing hard for me to follow.

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It's weird that Michel was the one that fought with Dominique Wilkins at a Hawks game not long ago over non-payment for a suit.  That was all over the news here in ATL.  My takeaway from all this?  Never trust a haberdasher.   Of course, if there are any AU haberdashers reading this that are offended by such statement, I exempt you from such a statement and include you in my circle of trust, because AU people are inherently trustworthy.  Well, except Chuck.  And the guy that used to work on my car when I attended AU.  And this one girl I dated that did me wrong.  But otherwise, AU people are inherently trustworthy.    

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/26/2017 at 10:52 AM, AUDevil said:

How does Matt Stevens know that Wiley is the subject of this?  Is his name listed anywhere?

He's the only one that matches up with NBA talent and step-mother that I'm aware of. The question to me is whether the other is Heron or Purifoy.

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45 minutes ago, Charleston Tiger said:

He's the only one that matches up with NBA talent and step-mother that I'm aware of. The question to me is whether the other is Heron or Purifoy.

Wiley's mother (Vicki Orr) is on on the scene, attends games and so forth. Wiley does not have any sisters or a step-father. The step-father / sisters / NBA talent fits Herron. My personal opinion is that the Wiley parents have both been through college basketball, know right from wrong and don't look like they need a very small amount of money to make ends meet. My best guess is Pruifoy and Herron, but that's just a guess.

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17 minutes ago, mustache eagle said:

I’ve been rueing the day keim gets pulled to the nba ... lottery pick?  That’s the question.

Kept hoping it would be Keim....the kid deserves some kind of reward for helping hold things together when the injury bug hits the team.

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On 10/11/2017 at 8:45 AM, Mikey said:

Wiley's mother (Vicki Orr) is on on the scene, attends games and so forth. Wiley does not have any sisters or a step-father. The step-father / sisters / NBA talent fits Herron. My personal opinion is that the Wiley parents have both been through college basketball, know right from wrong and don't look like they need a very small amount of money to make ends meet. My best guess is Pruifoy and Herron, but that's just a guess.

My understanding was it's Wiley, partly due to being related.

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Meanwhile the NCAA is going to what every good bureaucracy does in time of crisis....form a committee to study the problem and make some recommendations in a few months....or whenever the committee can arrive at some kind of consensus.     

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