New revelations expand LSU’s NCAA issues

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by seabrookcajun, Jun 21, 2019.

  1. seabrookcajun

    seabrookcajun Founding Member

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    https://www.yahoo.com/sports/new-revelations-expand-ls-us-ncaa-issues-003319448.html

    New revelations expand LSU’s NCAA issues
    [​IMG] Pat Forde, Pete Thamel and Dan Wetzel,Yahoo Sports 1 hour 28 minutes ago
    [​IMG]
    The LSU Tigers football program is now also in the crosshairs of the NCAA after a report of a booster paying $180,000 to a player's father. (Photo Credit: USAT)
    The NCAA scrutiny of LSU has expanded to include the football program, as the school confirmed on Friday afternoon that it has been working with the NCAA about an “ongoing inquiry” into a six-figure payment to the father of a former player.

    An LSU booster named John Paul Funes, who pled guilty to stealing more than a half-million dollars from a foundation where he worked as a fundraiser, paid $180,000 to a man that Yahoo Sports confirmed on Friday is the father of former Tigers star lineman Vadal Alexander.

    In federal documents, a man identified as “individual C” allegedly received “approximately $180,000 in Foundation Funds” from Funes. That man is James Alexander, the father Vadal Alexander. His identity was first reported Thursday by the Baton Rouge Business Report.

    Funes’ lawyer, Walt Green, declined comment to Yahoo Sports when asked explicitly whether he or his client had heard from the NCAA.

    An LSU spokesman said in a statement that LSU has been engaged with the NCAA about the “ongoing inquiry” regarding the scheme. LSU has known about the alleged payment since 2018, but the NCAA has been limited in its investigative ability as to not interfere with Funes’ case. (This is similar to why the NCAA has been slow to react in the wake of the federal basketball corruption scandals.)

    The emergence of this information from a federal case comes at a vexing time for LSU, which was already under significant NCAA scrutiny for activity within its men’s basketball program.

    The Funes news comes amid an ongoing NCAA inquiry into the men’s basketball program. Coach Will Wade was suspended for more than a month earlier this year for not meeting with the school after a Yahoo Sports report detailed an FBI-intercepted call between Wade and aspiring agent Christian Dawkins. In the call, Wade expressed frustration about his inability to close what he described as a "strong-ass offer" for a recruit.

    Wade missed LSU’s final regular season game, the SEC tournament and NCAA tournament in the wake of the Yahoo report. He’s since been reinstated, and his future at the school is one of the biggest storylines of the college basketball offseason.

    This latest news appears to place LSU further in the NCAA’s crosshairs. Alexander’s father allegedly was the recipient of funds Funes embezzled from Our Lady of the Lake Foundation, where he was president. The foundation supports Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital.

    Funes entered a guilty plea Thursday to one count of money laundering and one count of wire fraud for having stolen at least $550,000 from the foundation.

    “LSU was made aware of specific allegations by Our Lady of the Lake officials in late 2018 and made that information immediately available to the NCAA,” said LSU senior associate athletic director, Robert Munson. “As this is an ongoing inquiry, LSU will have no further comment at this time.”

    Funes also was charged with funneling money to the family of former LSU quarterback Rohan Davey — a legal issue but likely not an NCAA problem for the school since it was well after Davey played for the Tigers. His senior season was in 2001.
    Funes was the head of the OLOL Foundation until last November. He follows many people formerly and currently associated with LSU sports on Twitter, and was close enough to the football program to have been on the sideline during a game in 2014 at Florida. Wade eventually met with both school and NCAA officials and was reinstated by LSU in April. At SEC spring meetings in late May, he offered no explanation for the contents of the FBI wiretap.
    “It’s a good question,” Wade said. “I can’t get into the specifics of everything, like I was saying earlier, but I can assure in my meetings with LSU and the NCAA I’ve addressed all the media reports, everything that has been reported, and that ultimately led to my reinstatement. But I can’t get into the specifics based on the confidentiality of that meeting.”Wade also was on another FBI wiretap that was introduced as part of the first of two federal trials in the Southern District of New York’s investigation of corruption in college basketball. In that trial, a conversation with Dawkins included discussion of recruiting another prospect.

    The emergence of the payment to Alexander’s father further complicates the fledgling tenure of Woodward, who started his job in April amid the Wade scandal.

    United States vs. John Paul Funes

     
  2. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    Uh oh


    Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations on this?
     
  3. Bengal B

    Bengal B Founding Member

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    Vadal's last season was 2016 so even if there was it wouldn't have expired yet. Good news is that it happened under Miles watch so Oeaux can't be sanctioned in any way.
     
  4. TerryP

    TerryP Founding Member

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    I don't understand your reasoning here. What happened under one coach can have an affect on another coach's team/tenure.
     
  5. tigerpub

    tigerpub Founding Member

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    It’s good to know Saban and Bama (and the rest of the multi billion dollar college sports world is without sin. I can get back to sleep now.
     
  6. shane0911

    shane0911 Helping lost idiots find their village

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    That is the way I thought it went. If anything comes down it will be sanctions/discipline for the school not O
     
  7. furduknfish

    furduknfish #ohnowesuckagain

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    Can have a what now?

    In before @tirk
     
  8. diamondheadtiger

    diamondheadtiger Founding Member

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    So Kansas gets the sanctions?
     
    Richdog, tirk, shane0911 and 2 others like this.
  9. TerryP

    TerryP Founding Member

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    Perhaps it's my mental exhaustion (what I wouldn't give for a little sleep) ...
    I've missed something here.

    While the dynamics are different we're seeing Luke deal with Freeze's tenure: a program sanctioned.

    What I fear are the optics of this along with the lens the NCAA could use when its looking at this and Wade. Its another dynamic that comes into play with how one coach can have an affect on other sports program as well. Using Ole Miss as an example again I have to believe they weighed what was going on with their women's basketball program when they were deciding how they'd handle football. (A non-revenue sport at that.)
     
  10. locoguano

    locoguano Founding Member

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    This isn't a recruiting scandal. It's a money laundering scheme that happens to include some people connected to LSU. Non-story. Move on.
     
    leroy7500, mctiger and watson1880 like this.

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