The Kansas athletic department received two subpoenas from federal prosecutors requesting information related to the FBI investigation into college basketball, The Star has learned through a Kansas Open Records Act request.
The first subpoena, dated Jan. 8, 2018, asked for "(a)ll documents regarding the recruitment and enrollment" of a player whose name was redacted by KU. In addition, the subpoena asked for any record of communication between KU and that player and his family. The document later requested all exchanges between KU department officials and "James Gatto, a/k/a "Jim"; (ii) Christopher Rivers; (iii) Thomas ("TJ") Gassnola; (iv) Merl Code, and (v) any other representative of Adidas" before asking for all of KU's contracts and oral agreements KU had agreed to with adidas.
The second subpoena, signed March 14, 2018, requested all information about the recruitment and enrollment of another player, whose name also was redacted by KU. This subpoena had added stipulations that KU provide:
_ Any documents in connection with the player's eligibility.
_ Any interview transcript or recording in connection with the investigation of the player's eligibility.
KU received both of these subpoenas before the FBI released a superseding indictment in its ongoing college basketball investigation on April 10. The new charges filed that day against adidas executive Gatto by the U.S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York revealed that a mother and a guardian of two unidentified KU student-athletes _ believed to be Billy Preston and Silvio De Sousa _ were said to have benefited from illegal payments made without the knowledge of the university.
The Star obtained the subpoenas Tuesday from KU after it had requested them through a previous open records request. Following an initial denial, The Star challenged that the documents should be released.
KU public affairs officer Andy Hyland said in an email Tuesday that KU had "decided to exercise our discretion" to release the requested subpoenas.
"These documents do not suggest any wrongdoing by the university," Hyland said in the email. "We are cooperating fully with investigators in this matter. Because this is an active investigation, it is not appropriate for us to comment further at this time."
