Men's assistant Ira Bowman mentioned in bribary scheme

[AlaskanFAN 1,665]

https://auburn.247sports.com/Article/Auburn-assistant-Ira-Bowman-tied-to-bribery-scheme-at-Penn-University-in-Jerome-Allen-federal-testimony-129973495/

Assistant Ira Bowman tied to bribery scheme in federal testimony

ByBRANDON MARCELLO 28 minutes ago 

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Ira Bowman (Photo: Penn Athletics)

 

Auburn assistant coach Ira Bowman has been fingered as a participant in a scheme that led to bribes to get a player on the basketball roster at Penn University in 2015, according to testimony by former Penn head coach Jerome Allen.

The testimony was made last week in a federal bribery trial of a Florida healthcare executive, according to Philly.com.

Former Penn head coach Jerome Allenadmitted Friday he accepted about $300,000 in bribes from Philip Esformes to get his son, Morris, on the Quakers' basketball team. Allen testified Bowman, then an assistant at Penn, knew of the scheme and was later involved after Allen was fired as head coach in 2015. The payments allegedly stopped after Morris left the team when it became clear he would be cut from the roster under the new head coach, Steve Donahue.

 

Bowman was hired away from Penn by Auburn in July 2018 to replace Chuck Person, who was fired from the staff following an arrest in the fall of 2017 on six federal bribery and fraud charges tied to alleged payments made to the families of Auburn players Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy. Person is scheduled to face trial in June.

Allen testified Bowman suggested a separate bank account be set up for the bribes from Esformes. Allen said he gave Bowman a debit card for the account receiving the bribery money.

Auburn University and its athletics department did not immediately return a request for comment on Allen's testimony that mentioned Bowman's involvement in the alleged scheme at Penn. Penn's athletics department, however, released a statement to Philly.com.

“We were extremely disappointed to learn that Jerome Allen, former head men’s basketball coach at Penn, accepted payments to recruit a potential student-athlete to Penn and concealed that conduct from the Athletic Department and University administration.

“Until Jerome’s testimony last week, we also were unaware that former assistant men’s basketball coach Ira Bowman had any relevant knowledge of the matter. The University has been cooperating fully with the government and the NCAA so that the matter is appropriately redressed.”

Auburn coach Bruce Pearl was excited about Bowman when he hired him to join the Tigers' staff in July.

"When you're hiring a staff, it's all about surrounding yourself with people better than you," Pearl said in a statement at the time. "Who can help these kids realize their full potential on and off the court? Who do I want to walk into a living room with and say to a parent that these are the men I want to surround your son with?

"Ira Bowman is a former Ivy League Player of the Year, a self-made NBA player, a great father and a true role model. Even though he is from the east, I think he fits the profile of an Auburn man to a T."

Allen pleaded guilty to bribery charges in October and he said in the trial Friday he is facing up to 10 years in prison, according to Philly.com. The government is seeking a lighter sentence, Allen testified.

The government was investigating Philip Esformes, who was ultimately charged for filing $450 million worth of false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for services related to bribes for doctors.

Details of Esformes allegedly bribing Penn's head coach was a subplot to the initial investigation, which now has caught the attention of Penn and Auburn. The alleged bribes were captured on wiretaps during the much larger investigation into Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

[AUFriction 1,179]

Brandon Marcello...

Hardly a credible source. 

[AlaskanFAN 1,665]

https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/auburn-football/report-another-auburn-assistant-implicated-in-bribery-scheme-stemming-from-time-at-penn/

Report: Auburn assistant implicated in bribery scheme stemming from time at Penn

ADAM SPENCER | 53 MINUTES AGO

COVERAGE BY

 

Prior to the 2017 season, Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person was fired after he was arrested in an FBI case involving paying NCAA basketball players.

Now, another Auburn assistant has been implicated in a scandal that is sure to draw the NCAA’s eyes. Fortunately for Bruce Pearl, this scandal occurred during the assistant’s time at Penn.

Per a report from Philly.com, current Auburn assistant Ira Bowman has been implicated (along with then-head coach Jerome Allen) in a bribery scheme regarding accepting money to have a wealthy man’s son attend Penn via a basketball roster spot:

The former Penn head coach and iconic Quakers player, now an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics, testified that he took roughly $300,000 in bribes from a Florida businessman to get the man’s son into Penn using a basketball priority slot. …

Allen testified that former Quakers assistant Ira Bowman, now at Auburn, had been brought into the scheme after Allen was let go by Penn, and that Bowman had been aware of it even before then.

Allen now faces a federal charge of money laundering. What, if any, penalty Bowman faces remains to be seen.

 

[AURex 1,994]

Auburn just can't seem to get out of the way of these scandals -- basketball, baseball, football -- Yes let's all shout that we are blameless. But I'm really tired of Auburn always being listed in articles about cheating. Because we seem to  always be on the defensive. How do we get out of this quagmire of questionable coaches, payola schemes, and finger-pointing?

 

[aujeff11 6,243]

We attract the troubled like we are running an underground brothel over here. 

[GwillMac6 20,666]

This is very odd to say the least. Usually it is the players getting paid but the coach is getting paid to get a guy on the basketball team? Is there even a rule for that?

[GwillMac6 20,666]

 

[AU64 10,122]

1 minute ago, aujeff11 said:

We attract the troubled like we are running an underground brothel over here. 

  so true...our own fault...thinking of people wanting us to hire tainted coaches for football....and then surprised by stuff like this.

[GwillMac6 20,666]

This is very different it seems. This is money being paid by the family of a prospective student athlete to a coach in order to get someone’s son on the basketball team, as opposed to money being paid to the family of a recruit to obtain the recruit’s commitment. Is that how you all read this as well?

Correct. Bribery, however, is bribery. The parent was allegedly using money for the coach to lie to Penn University officials to get his son on the basketball team. That coach then, allegedly, got Ira Bowman involved.

This should not involve Auburn as, of course, this all happened at Penn. It only affects Bowman............................... That response was Marcell responding to a question about all of this from a poster on 247. 

[GwillMac6 20,666]

10 minutes ago, AU64 said:

  so true...our own fault...thinking of people wanting us to hire tainted coaches for football....and then surprised by stuff like this.

To be fair you really do not think shady stuff is going down AT A IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL when it comes to athletics. This happened all the way back in 2015 too. 

[TexasTiger 12,831]

18 minutes ago, GwillMac6 said:

To be fair you really do not think shady stuff is going down AT A IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL when it comes to athletics. This happened all the way back in 2015 too. 

It was an attempt to use a basketball slot to get into Wharton. Wild.

[GwillMac6 20,666]

7 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

It was an attempt to use a basketball slot to get into Wharton. Wild.

You said it. This is nuts. 

[Randman5000 4,226]

Why do we keep attracting these slimeballs. 

Jeez, we replaced one dirty coach with another. 🤦‍♂️ 

 

[doverstutts 1,643]

what i read at another site is that the kids grades were not good enough to get in school,or at least borderline, and to get a basketball schollie where the NCAA minimum was in play, would allow him to get in school....the debate is whether or not its an NCAA violation, and even that is not quite clear about the definition of "supplimenting a coachs salary".....very strange situation....bowman will probably be suspended for cautionary purposes, but i don't think he should lose his job over this.....he probably will, due to the toxic situation in college basketball right now....it really is penns problem not AU's....people need to write letters and use stamps if they want to communicate while doing unethical or illegal stuff....phones get you in trouble

[Gene Loblaw 636]

Guessing Bowman gets canned and nothing comes of this to AU. What sucks is though is that Bowman is a big reason Sharife Cooper is all about AU. I’ve read that he’s been family friends with the Coopers for a long time

[aujeff11 6,243]

1 minute ago, Gene Loblaw said:

Guessing Bowman gets canned and nothing comes of this to AU. What sucks is though is that Bowman is a big reason Sharife Cooper is all about AU. I’ve read that he’s been family friends with the Coopers for a long time

Boo!!!!! 

[doverstutts 1,643]

7 minutes ago, Gene Loblaw said:

Guessing Bowman gets canned and nothing comes of this to AU. What sucks is though is that Bowman is a big reason Sharife Cooper is all about AU. I’ve read that he’s been family friends with the Coopers for a long time

thats a scary part of the situation....i know it won't happen, but bowman needs to be kept,if any way possible, just for that reason....the gray area is that it might not even be a violation

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

9 hours ago, AUFriction said:

Brandon Marcello...

Hardly a credible source. 

Did you even read the article?  Bowman was called out in FEDERAL COURT.  It's a public trial.

[gr82be 14,423]

47 minutes ago, doverstutts said:

what i read at another site is that the kids grades were not good enough to get in school,or at least borderline, and to get a basketball schollie where the NCAA minimum was in play, would allow him to get in school....the debate is whether or not its an NCAA violation, and even that is not quite clear about the definition of "supplimenting a coachs salary".....very strange situation....bowman will probably be suspended for cautionary purposes, but i don't think he should lose his job over this.....he probably will, due to the toxic situation in college basketball right now....it really is penns problem not AU's....people need to write letters and use stamps if they want to communicate while doing unethical or illegal stuff....phones get you in trouble

Letters and stamps won't help. US Postal service is a Federal agency which would add to their problems if caught. 

[AU64 10,122]

Well...not really an AU issue except our name becomes associated and gives the news hacks to drag us through the mud all the way back to Cam.

BUT does raise issues of character even if not an NCAA  issue.

[doverstutts 1,643]

28 minutes ago, Brad_ATX said:

Did you even read the article?  Bowman was called out in FEDERAL COURT.  It's a public trial.

while it may/may not be an NCAA violation, that is to be determined by interpretation later on, it is probably a crime to participate in a bribe, even as a minor player....why do we get these weird cases at AU?....hell, most NCAA stuff is cut and dried, but nooooo, not us....we get all of the crazy stuff

[AU64 10,122]

28 minutes ago, doverstutts said:

while it may/may not be an NCAA violation, that is to be determined by interpretation later on, it is probably a crime to participate in a bribe, even as a minor player....why do we get these weird cases at AU?....hell, most NCAA stuff is cut and dried, but nooooo, not us....we get all of the crazy stuff

Reasonable question...but maybe the first question is...why does a guy from Penn come to Auburn ?  Seems like a good guy from his bio but odd decision for him to leave an area he has pretty much lived all of his life. 

[Gene Loblaw 636]

14 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Reasonable question...but maybe the first question is...why does a guy from Penn come to Auburn ?  Seems like a good guy from his bio but odd decision for him to leave an area he has pretty much lived all of his life. 

Lot more money and a better chance to achieve his career goals?

[AU64 10,122]

2 minutes ago, Gene Loblaw said:

lot more money and a better chance to achieve his career goals?

could be....or maybe knew trouble was brewing at Penn?  

either way.....just another coach bringing bad press to AU.....though this seems questionable (to me) that NCAA has an issue with either school.

For a school with such modest basketball success over the years, our basketball program has sure managed to generate a lot of negative pub.  

[TigerOne 1,140]

First question in the interview process, are you involved with the Bribery scandal? Auburn's vetting process is not good at all.

Softball, baseball, basketball apparently you just have to show up with a somewhat impressive resume.