| | ESPN.com news services
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- An amateur basketball coach was charged
with defrauding UCLA, Duke, Missouri and Oklahoma State by paying
high school players to be on his summer league team, sometimes
giving them cash stuffed in shoe boxes.
Myron Piggie of Kansas City, Mo., was charged with paying them
between April 4, 1996, and Oct. 7, 1999, and expecting to receive
part of their professional salaries and endorsement income in
return. He also is accused of conspiring with sports agents to
determine the future professional value of the players.
The 11-count indictment was returned Wednesday and unsealed
Thursday. His
lawyer, Kimberley Kellogg Gepford, said Piggie would plead innocent
at a hearing Monday.
"This is not about $50, a pair of shoes and a prom corsage,"
U.S. Attorney Stephen Hill said. "This was significant money."
Piggie paid JaRon Rush of UCLA $17,000; Kareem Rush of Missouri
$2,300; Corey Maggette of Duke $2,000; Andre Williams of Oklahoma
State $250; and Korleone Young $14,000, according to the
indictment.
Federal law-enforcement sources tell ESPN that the indictment alleges that Piggie gave JaRon Rush $5,000 to lease a 1998 Blazer in January 1998 on condition that he not accept a scholarship to play at Kansas.
Rush eventually accepted a scholarship to attend UCLA.
Young, from Wichita, Kan., did not play college basketball,
going straight to the NBA draft. JaRon Rush and Kareem Rush are
brothers who played at Kansas City's Pembroke Hill High School.
The schools, their conferences and the NCAA were defrauded
because they were denied the services of the players while they
were suspended and because the players illegally obtained
scholarships worth $99,127.80, the indictment said.
The players got the money in cash, sometimes in Nike shoe boxes,
and were told to keep the payments a secret, the indictment said.
"It was a part of the scheme that defendant developed cover
stories for the players to explain the payments in the event the
NCAA learned of their existence," the indictment said.
The players, some of whom testified before the grand jury, will
not be charged because they cooperated and suffered enough by being
suspended by their schools, Hill said.
The Rush brothers and Williams were suspended by their schools
for varying periods. Those cases have since been resolved by the
NCAA with the Rush brothers each missing nine games and Williams
five. Maggette was never declared ineligible.
The NCAA was furnished with a copy of the indictment, but did
not participate in the investigation.
The NCAA had not seen the indictment and declined comment,
spokeswoman Jane Jankowski said Thursday.
Piggie, 39, was being held without bond until a detention
hearing Monday. He could face up to 49 years in prison without
parole and up to $1.85 million in fines.
The charges included mail fraud, wire fraud, failure to file a
federal income tax return and interstate transport of fraudulently
obtained funds. He also was charged with illegal possession of a
firearm.
"This is not an indictment about mail fraud or tax evasion," said Kansas City FBI
agent Jeff Lanza, who is involved in the investigation. "It's an
indictment about the corruption of amateur athletics."
Piggie used the access he gained to the players to receive a
$425,000 consulting contract and $159,866 in other compensation
from Nike, the indictment said. It also said he was given $184,435
from Kansas City booster Tom Grant. Nike and Grant were not
charged.
The payments to the players were made throughout the school year
because of Piggie's need to keep them under his control, Hill said.
Piggie coached the Children's Mercy Hospital 76'ers, an amateur
summer league basketball team in Kansas City, which participated in
various summer league and Amateur Athletic Union competitions for
boys 11-18. Piggie also coached the team after it became known as
the Kansas City Rebels.
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