Referee David Hall, left, Arizona assistant coach Book Richardson during a timeout in the second half in a game at McKale Center on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017. Arizona won 77-66. Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star
Longtime Arizona Wildcats assistant men's basketball coach Emmanuel "Book" Richardson has been arrested as part of a federal corruption scheme, according to a report from NBC news and federal documents.
Tom Winter, a reporter with NBC, said Tuesday morning that Richardson and three others, including USC assistant Tony Bland, have been arrested by the FBI as part of the probe. The U.S. attorney's office will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. today, where it is expected to elaborate.
The FBI has been investigating the criminal influence of money on coaches and student-athletes since 2015, according to The Associated Press. The probe covered bribes paid to players' advisers, college assistants and others who exude influence over student-athletes, according to the AP.
Three separate complaints related to the incident have been filed in court, one of which names Jim Gatto, Adidas' director of global marketing for basketball, as a defendant, according to the complaint against Richardson, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in New York.
The initial investigation revealed a related scheme involving "significant cash payments" by athletic advisors and executives of Adidas to the families of high school basketball players at the request of coaches at two of the universities, in exchange for agreements by the athletes to attend the universities and later to sign with the advisors and Adidas, the complaint says.
In June and July, Richardson accepted $20,000 in cash bribes during meetings in New York and New Jersey with undercover agents and co-defendant Munish Sood, founder and CEO of the Princeton Advisory Group, an investment services company, according to the complaint.
Also named in the complaint is Christian Dawkins, a sports agent who was fired by ASM sports earlier this year but received money from Sood to start his own sports management company.
The day before the June meeting, an FBI wiretap recorded a phone call between Dawkins and Richardson, in which the two discuss a high school basketball player that Richardson was paying to recruit to play for the UA, the complaint says.
A month later, Dawkins told an undercover agent that Richardson needed another $15,000 to secure the player, who he identified as a "top point guard in the country," according to the complaint.
In a meeting in August, Richardson told Dawkins and Sood which current UA basketball players he intended to influence to sign with Dawkins new management company, the complaint says.
Richardson is facing charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, solicitation of bribes by an agent of a federally funded organization, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and travel act conspiracy.
These file photos show, assistant basketball coaches Tony Bland, left, Chuck Person, center, and Arizona's Lamont "Book" Richardson. The three, along with assistant coach Lamont Evans of Oklahoma State, were identified in court papers and are among 10 people facing federal charges in Manhattan federal court, Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, in a wide probe of fraud and corruption in the NCAA, authorities said.
AP file photos
Richardson is in his ninth season at Arizona and 11th overall under coach Sean Miller. The New York native helped recruit many East Coast players to Arizona, including former Wildcats standouts Mark Lyons and Kevin Parrom. Before coming to Arizona, Richardson, ran the New York Gauchos AAU program.
It's unclear what affect Richardson's arrest will have on Arizona with regards to the NCAA. The Wildcats are scheduled to hold their media day on Wednesday.
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