Brian Bowen II, the former five-star prospect at the center of an FBI investigation into college basketball corruption, filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against Adidas on Monday.
Brian Bowen II has filed a lawsuit against Adidas and its associates — James Gatto, Merl Code, Christian Dawkins, Munish Sood, Thomas Gassnola and Christopher Rivers — alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 19, 2018
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in South Carolina and is seeking unspecified damages.
In this lawsuit filed by the McLeod Group on behalf of Brian Bowen II, they are looking for damages from adidas as well as limiting adidas from sponsoring any Division 1 programs.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 19, 2018
The McLeod Law Group, which is representing Bowen, accuses Adidas of “spearheading” a criminal racketeering enterprise in order to influence big time high school recruits to sign with schools under contract with Adidas.
“Adidas has thus far infiltrated college basketball with complete impunity,” the firm’s statement said. “It is now time for them to answer for what they have done and to suffer the consequences of their corporate misconduct. Brian is an exceptional young man who is determined to right this wrong and to do his part to help free other student athletes from corporate corruption that has no place in college basketball.”
The law firm says the pursue of the lawsuit is to hold Adidas and “its criminal co-conspirators liable for the harm they have wrought on the life and career of Brian Bowen II.”
Per the suit: “This action arises from a criminal bribery and fraud scheme spearheaded by Adidas America, its employees and consultants, numerous AAU and NCAA Division I men’s basketball coaches, and certain financial intermediaries that exists to infiltrate amateur athletics by preying upon the families of top-ranked high school student-athletes in order to get their children to play basketball at Adidas-sponsored universities.”
Brian Bowen Sr., who was accused of agreeing to a pay-for-play scheme to receive $100,000 from Adidas to send his son to Louisville, testified in federal court in October that he received thousands of dollars from Gassnola, Dawkins and Rivers to play for Adidas-affiliated grassroots programs. He and Sood also testified that Bowen Sr. received $19,4000 in cash as the first of four payments for Bowen II to attend Louisville.
Bowen II was held out of competition at Louisville and transferred to South Carolina, but signed a professional contract in Australia in August.
Bowen II has always maintained he was not aware of his father’s schemes, and Monday morning’s announcement said the deals were “unbeknownst to Brian.”
“I have always felt that Brian was the true victim of everything that transpired with Adidas,” said attorney Jason A. Setchen, who represented Bowen II in his NCAA case. “I have always felt that Brian was the true victim of everything that transpired with Adidas. Brian has been severely damaged due to the actions of others and treated unjustly. I am happy that the McLeod Law Group has undertaken the pursuit of justice on behalf of Brian. I look forward to working in conjunction with them to ensure that Brian finally gets his day in court.”
College basketball is a mess.
