A New York federal jury convicted James Gatto, Merl Code and Christian Dawkins on all counts. The jury agreed with the prosecution’s argument that the colleges were victims of wire fraud because they offered scholarships to players who were ineligible for NCAA play because of payments made to them by the defendants in return for committing to Adidas sponsored schools. The defense did not contest the payments but argued that violating NCAA rules is not illegal and the schools were actually helped by the payments because they benefitted from the services of top players.

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