The floor-to-ceiling curtains were drawn in the sprawling penthouse suite as midnight approached and Tony Bland sank into the couch that, on video, blended into the low light.
Assistant coaches from some of the nation's top college basketball programs slipped out of triple-digit temperatures on the Las Vegas Strip and into the opulent quarters at the Cosmopolitan Hotel earlier that day in July 2017. They heard a sales pitch from Christian Dawkins, chief executive of a fledgling sports management company, financial advisor Marty Blazer, and an investor from New Jersey named Jeff D'Angelo _ every minute recorded by a hidden camera.
The men wanted the coaches to steer their top players toward Loyd Inc. _ shorthand for Living Out Your Dreams _ when they became professionals.
Two months later, FBI agents arrested Bland, then USC's associate head coach, and nine other men after a two-year probe into college basketball corruption. During a televised news conference, Joon Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, warned would-be cheaters that "we have your playbook" and suggested they come clean because "it's better for you to be calling us than for us to be calling you." Subpoenas were issued to major universities, big-name coaches and shoe companies. Authorities set up a tip line. Coaches not publicly linked to the probe retained lawyers. They wondered where the FBI would strike next.
The investigation ended with a handful of assistant coaches, shoe company employees and middlemen _ none household names outside of college basketball _ accepting plea bargains or being convicted and sentenced to shorter prison terms than prosecutors requested.
Additionally, no head coaches or university administrators were arrested, charged or convicted, though defense attorneys tried _ and failed _ to compel Arizona coach Sean Miller and Louisiana State coach Will Wade to testify about allegations linking them to the scandal.
Bland was among four assistant coaches to take a deal, pleading guilty in January to conspiracy to commit bribery after originally being indicted on that charge plus honest services fraud, mail fraud conspiracy and violating the Travel Act. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 5. Prosecutors want Bland to serve six to 12 months in prison; his attorney asked U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos for probation.
A detailed account of how authorities built their case against Bland _ and why some of the allegations fell apart _ resides among a trove of videos, text messages, emails and transcripts of wiretapped calls introduced as evidence during the recent trial of Dawkins and former Adidas employee Merl Code.
A jury convicted Dawkins and Code of bribery charges this month, though they were found not guilty on a combined seven of 10 counts. Both men and Adidas employee Jim Gatto had been sentenced to several months in prison after being convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud in a related case last fall. Defense attorneys plan to appeal.
The material includes audio recordings and hidden camera video of the late-night meeting in the Las Vegas hotel suite almost two years ago.
Behind the easy laughter, drinks from the wet bar and Bland describing the flight from Los Angeles on a private jet that afternoon, all wasn't as it seemed. D'Angelo was really an undercover FBI agent using a fake name and posing as deep-pocketed backer of the company. Blazer introduced D'Angelo to Dawkins as part of his cooperation with authorities after being charged with unrelated securities fraud.
Bland, oblivious to D'Angelo's real identity, boasted about his sway over USC players.
"You know ... I have some guys that I can bring in that I can just say, 'This is what you're ... doing,'" Bland said. "And there's other guys who we'll have to work a little harder for, but we'll still have a heavy influence on what they do."
The coach had breakfast with top recruit Marvin Bagley that morning before flying to Las Vegas and sounded confident USC could land the program-changing player.
"If he's at USC, you can _ you will meet him [the] first day on campus," Bland said. "This is the type of dude that, you get him, everybody will follow."
The video shows Dawkins picking up a stack of cash _ $13,000 provided by the undercover FBI agent _ from the coffee table when the meeting ends. D'Angelo hands him a white envelope to hold the money. Bland hugs the agent, whose face is intentionally obscured in the video, and departs.
Prosecutors alleged in the criminal complaint that Bland received the $13,000 as a bribe to direct USC players to the company. But bank records introduced in court show Dawkins deposited $8,900 in cash at a Bank of America ATM in Las Vegas the next day.
In the plea bargain, Bland, fired by USC in January 2018, admitted to getting $4,100. That's the difference between the $13,000 and the amount Dawkins deposited.
Jeffrey Lichtman, Bland's attorney, declined to comment. Steve Haney, who represents Dawkins, said the money belonged to the FBI, not his client, and noted the jury found him not guilty on four of six counts at the recent trial.
Several people with direct knowledge of the investigation, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, told the Los Angeles Times that Bland received even less because Dawkins spent an additional $2,000 of the bribe cash at Gucci.
Dawkins testified earlier this month that he handed Bland "between a thousand and two thousand dollars" to spend at a club that night to celebrate a friend's bachelor party.
"It was just money I had in my pocket basically," Dawkins told the jury.
