Lamont Evans, Former Division I Men's Basketball Coach, Pleads Guilty To Bribery In Manhattan Federa

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/lamont-evans-former-division-i-men-s-basketball-coach-pleads-guilty-bribery-manhattan

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Lamont Evans, Former Division I Men’s Basketball Coach, Pleads Guilty To Bribery In Manhattan Federal Court

Evans, a Former University of South Carolina and Oklahoma State University Men’s Basketball Coach, Pleads Guilty to Accepting Cash Bribes in Return for Steering College Players on His Teams to Corrupt Financial Advisers

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that LAMONT EVANS, a former men’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina (“South Carolina”) and later at Oklahoma State University (“OSU”), pled guilty in Manhattan federal court today to taking approximately $22,000 in cash bribes from athlete advisers in exchange for using his influence over South Carolina and OSU basketball players to retain the services of the advisers paying the bribes. RICHARDSON pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos.
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EVANS was a men’s basketball coach at South Carolina until on or about April 2016, and then at OSU until shortly after his arrest. Beginning in 2016, and continuing into September 2017, when EVANS was arrested, EVANS received approximately $22,000 in cash bribes from current and aspiring financial advisers and/or managers for professional athletes in exchange for EVANS’s agreement to exert his influence over certain student-athletes EVANS coached at South Carolina and OSU to retain the services of the bribe payers once those players entered the National Basketball Association (“NBA”).

In one meeting recorded during the investigation, Evans explained how “every guy I recruit and get is my personal kid,” and that “the parents believe in me and what I do … that’s why I say, if I need X, so if I do take X for that, it’s going to generate [business] toward you guys,” referring to the bribers. Evans also stated in a call recorded during the investigation how this arrangement was “generating more wealth” for the scheme participants, because they were “able to scratch my back, scratch yours, and help each other with different things and . . . at the same time get compensated and then . . . just go from there.” In return for the cash bribes EVANS received, EVANS facilitated a meeting between the bribe payers and a player at OSU, and a meeting between the bribe payers and a relative of a different player attending South Carolina, for the purpose of pressuring those players to retain the financial services of the bribe payers.

In addition to today’s plea, Emanuel Richardson, a/k/a “Book,” a former men’s basketball coach at the University of Arizona, and Anthony Bland, a/k/a “Tony,” a former men’s basketball coach at the University of Southern California, both previously pled guilty, pursuant to plea agreements with the Government, in connection with this scheme. Munish Sood, a financial adviser, also previously pled guilty, pursuant to a cooperation agreement with the Government, in connection with this scheme.
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