Christian Dawkins Seeks New Trial After Special Agent Found Guilty Of Gambling Away Federal Money

LOJSports |

Mar 17, 2022

In 2017, The United States Attorney’s Office had charged Christian Dawkins, 25 at the time, with three counts of wire fraud and one count of money-laundering conspiracy.

Also charged were James Gatto, Adidas’ director of global sports marketing, Merl Code, another Adidas employee, Munish Sood, a financial planner, and Jonathan Brad Augustine, president of The League Initiative and program director of the Adidas-sponsored 1 Family AAU program in Florida.

Dawkins, who is now 28 years old, began an 18-month federal prison sentence in Alabama on Tuesday.

Merl Code, an Adidas official, and Jim Gatto, another co-defendant, are already serving one-year and nine-month terms, respectively.

Book Richardson, a former Arizona assistant coach, has already finished a three-month term with the team.

After federal prosecutors in Las Vegas revealed a criminal conviction involving one of their undercover agents in the bribery case and the casino encounter late last week, Dawkins is now seeking a new trial.

FBI special agent Scott Carpenter pled guilty to one misdemeanor count of converting government funds. Carpenter was accused of squandering away $13,500 that was meant to be spent during the Vegas operation inside a high-limit room of a casino.

Although the FBI has denied involvement between that arrest and the Dawkins case, Dawkins lawyer, Steve Heaney, says misuse of the very funds involved in the meeting and the overall actions of four of the five undercover agents who worked the case are very much related.

Notable that Dawkins was found not guilty on four of the six charges against him.

Yahoo! Sports has more here.

BACKGROUND

Dawkins and others were accused of arranging with three high school athletes to sign with Adidas-sponsored institutions in exchange for $250,000 in bribes.

Dawkins was accused of meeting with elite college recruits and NBA prospects in the hopes of one day becoming their manager and influencing the players picks when it comes to their agents etc.

Dawkins is originally from Saginaw, Michigan. He started a scouting website for high school basketball players at the young age of 12.

Dawkins’ younger brother, Dorian, tragically passed away on June 12, 2009. Dorian fell at the free throw line during a summer league competition at Michigan State and was transported to Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Michigan. He was pronounced dead later that night, at age 14. An autopsy revealed that Dorian had suffered a series of heart attacks caused by a rare birth defect.

Dorian was an extraordinarily good basketball player at such a young age, so much so, his teammates used to call him “The Future.” To celebrate his brothers honor, Christian set up the ‘Dorian Dawkins Show Your Heart Memorial Classic,’ which still runs today and has gotten bigger since its inception.

Furthering his support for his brother, Dawkins started an AAU team, which was named Dorian’s Pride. The team quickly landed Adidas as a sponsor. Dorian’s Pride included Josh Jackson, Kyle Kuzma, and Jaylen Johnson, who all eventually reached the NBA.

Also on the roster was A.J. Turner,who went on to play at Boston College before transferring to Northwestern.

Dawkins moved up the ladder fast. Dawkins eventually started working as a runner for International Management Advisors, a Cleveland-based business created by former IMG employee Kurt Schoeppler, in April 2014. Schoeppler was once Lebron James financial advisor.

Schoeppler accused Dawkins of working for ASM Sports, an entity controlled by agent Andy Miller, while also working for IMA (International Management Advisors) in a May 2016 lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. IMA’s attorneys said Dawkins was appointed as executive director of sports and entertainment in April 2014.

IMA concluded that Dawkins owed the business $61,700 in unlawful expenses during discussions to terminate his employment, according to the complaint. Dawkins agreed to sign a promissory note to repay the money, in exchange for IMA agreeing to release him from some restrictions in his contract.

Terms of the settlement were never disclosed after it was settled in 2016.

According to a complaint by a U.S. attorney, Gatto, Code, Dawkins, and Sood plotted to route $100,000 to an unidentified high school player, with Dawkins telling the others that he did so at the instruction of a Louisville coach.