A federal trial diving into corruption in college basketball reportedly took a turn into college football on Tuesday in New York.
Louis Martin Blazer, a former Pittsburgh-based financial adviser turned government witness, testified Tuesday that he paid college football players from several programs from around 2000 to 2013-14 in hopes of becoming their financial adviser once they turned pro.
The schools listed, according to multiple reports, were Pittsburgh, Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Alabama and North Carolina. Blazer did not offer any specific names and is scheduled to be in court again Wednesday.
A Michigan spokesman responded to a request for comment from the Free Press by stating the program was “unable to further comment due to the lack of any specific information contained in those reports.”
Martin Blazer testified on Tuesday he paid football players from Pittsburgh, Penn State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Alabama and North Carolina.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 23, 2019
Blazer, according to CBS, said he would pay “$100 to $3,000 per month” to players’ family, friends or girlfriends. He said he never has paid a college football coach.
He did reportedly outline an instance in which he paid the father of a Penn State player $10,000, at the request of an unnamed Penn State assistant coach, to get the player to stay in school rather than enter the NFL draft. Blazer then claimed the player declared for the draft anyway and the player’s father paid him back.
Blazer did not provide any information relating to whether other schools were aware of his alleged payments.
Blazer became a government witness after pleading guilty to several federal charges, including securities fraud. According to CBS, he faces up to 67 years in prison if he’s caught lying under oath during this trial.
