NFL
Warrant: Wichard paid coach to buy UNC player's flight
By Jodi Leese Glusco
Published: 2011-03-02 11:09:00
Updated: 2011-03-02 18:05:40
Mar 2, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. — Investigators have issued a search warrant for the financial records of NFL agent Gary Wichard as they continue looking into whether North Carolina's sports agent laws have been broken.
The search warrant was issued Tuesday to Bank of America for certain financial documents connected to Wichard and his California-based firm, ProTect Management LLC, since January 2009.
In the warrant application, Sam Cabrera, an investigator for the North Carolina Secretary of State outlined the relationships and financial exchanges that allegedly link Wichard to two former players on the University of North Carolina football team.
UNC's Marvin Austin was one of three players suspended from the team for the entire 2010 season.
In the warrant, Cabrera outlines interviews with Austin, Wichard and NFL player and former Tar Heel Kentwan Balmer in which the trio agreed that Austin had traveled to California to visit and work out with Balmer twice in 2009. On the second trip, the three agree, Austin met Wichard.
All three claimed a coach from Austin's high school paid for the flights. The coach, Todd Amis, told investigators he was reimbursed for those expenses by Wichard.
According to the warrant, Amis showed investigators a canceled check from Wichard's ProTect Management.
North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall's office launched an investigation after the NCAA began looking into possible agent-related benefits in North Carolina's football program.
Marshall spokesman George Jeter said Wednesday the search warrant was "definitely a step forward in the investigation."
North Carolina law forbids sports agents from giving gifts or money to student-athletes. The documents released Wednesday say the secretary of state has "probable cause to believe that PTM and Wichard furnished items of value to Austin."
The state expects to find evidence of the financial exchange in a search of the ProTect Management bank accounts.
The NFL Players Association suspended Wichard in December for nine months for his role in the UNC probe.
Receiver Greg Little, who lost his senior season at UNC for accepting improper benefits from an agent, will speak to The Insiders Thursday on 620AM The Buzz at 8 a.m.
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Most Recent Comments
RE: Warrant: Wichard paid coach to buy UNC player's flight
If you repeat the lie enough, someone will believe it
One can also apply that to this notion ( most often extolled by the tarhole nation ) that unx has been accommodating towards the NCAA during this investi- , uhhh , "review." Baddour has vowed to fight any finding of LOIC. Players have lied to investigators. unx has been sued under the FOIA. unx is hiding behind FERPA regs. John Blake took 75 large ( at least! ) in hush money. The tudor's silence has been guaranteed. unx's lack of due diligence with regards to the academic "prong" of the investi- , uhhh , "review" led the NCAA to intervene. unx , from jump street , has made getting guilty players back on the field ASAP their number one priority. What part of
ANY of that screams "cooperation?"
+1
Well done!
RE: Warrant: Wichard paid coach to buy UNC player's flight
Butch Davis, Blake, Whichard, tutor-gate, travel-gate, jewelry-gate, the corrupt athletes, this all stinks.
To high heaven. BTW , ya left out "Drug Mule With Total Access To Butch's Football Program-gate" , "Shady Local Party Promoter With Similar Access-gate" and "Complicity On The Part Of The BOT , BOG , NC Based Media , NC SOS and Baddour/Thorpe-gate" too. It's "Prongs-O-Plenty" and were this any other school , unx'ers ( like any sensible/objective person ) would call a spade a spade. "Sensible" and "objective" aren't often used in the same sentence when describing tarhole fans , however. Regardless , it reeks and the best (
BEST!!! ) excuse Butch has is "I didn't know" which , even if true , ( it's not! ) makes 'im guilty of LOIC anyway.
RE: Warrant: Wichard paid coach to buy UNC player's flight
Amis made a copy of the check before he cashed it for his records it would seem. Bet some other have evidence to be a get out of jail free card. Butch Davis, Blake, Whichard, tutor-gate, travel-gate, jewelry-gate, the corrupt athletes, this all stinks. No one knows anything, no one did anything, this is a witch-hunt, and I have a freezer for an eskimo. If UNC does not clean house including Butch Davis there is no morality at UNC. The ends justify the means mentality, whitewash, cover-up!
RE: Warrant: Wichard paid coach to buy UNC player's flight
If you repeat the lie enough, someone will believe it
One can also apply that to this notion ( most often extolled by the tarhole nation ) that unx has been accommodating towards the NCAA during this investi- , uhhh , "review." Baddour has vowed to fight any finding of LOIC. Players have lied to investigators. unx has been sued under the FOIA. unx is hiding behind FERPA regs. John Blake took 75 large ( at least! ) in hush money. The tudor's silence has been guaranteed. unx's lack of due diligence with regards to the academic "prong" of the investi- , uhhh , "review" led the NCAA to intervene. unx , from jump street , has made getting guilty players back on the field ASAP their number one priority. What part of
ANY of that screams "cooperation?"
RE: Warrant: Wichard paid coach to buy UNC player's flight
Just out of curiosity... if there are sanctions to be had, do you think the NCAA will come down even harder on Carolina just because they DIDN'T self-neuter themselves? I think that's very possible, if not likely.
- Posted by TruthBKnown Left The Building
UNC neutered last season by keeping some players out who didn't deserve to be out. Plus they bent over backward to accommodate the investigation. UNC is not the golden goose in football like Ohio State but compare what UNC did on the spot compared to Ohio State who said, well...we'll punish the guilty next year. Shame on UNC for getting in this mess, but I believe Baddour and UNC have gone out of their way to accommodate the NCAA investigation.
How about the RB (Houston?) that was ruled ineligible for 4 games or so but it was decided to redshirt him last yr? Does that mean he is out the first 4 games in 2011? I doubt it...
If you repeat the lie enough, someone will believe it.
Houston was never ruled ineligible; he was held out of some games pending the outcome of the investigation.
But the facts never matter to ABCers.
Sorry, wrong guy. With so many that were involved in improper benefits and academic cheating, its easy to get confused. It was
Charles Brown that was busted for cheating yet was allowed to redshirt last yr. Will he sit out the first part of the yr as a result of him getting help on a number of assignments? Kicked out of school (which he was last semester) might be punishment to a student with no chance of playing in the NFL, but unless you punish him where it hurts most (missed games) than you haven't done anything but reward him for cheating. He gets resources that a typical student at Carolina isn't afforded - another year eating at the training table, getting the best resources to advance toward a degree, use of athletic trainers and facilities.
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