Almost two years after beginning an investigation on the University of Miami, the NCAA has disclosed that some of its employees' had morally questionable (and potentially illegal) methods in obtaining information about Nevin Shapiro and the school itself, Yahoo Sports reports.
The past moves have put a temporary stop on the investigation, NCAA President Mark Emmert explained on Wednesday. Emmert said there was, ''a very severe issue of improper conduct,'' including that the lawyer for former booster and convicted Ponzi scheme architect Shapiro obtained information through a bankruptcy proceeding that had nothing to do with the NCAA.
Because it is not affiliated with the government, the NCAA doesn't have the power to issues subpoenas on its own. Emmert said that at least one person's testimony that was gathered in a bankruptcy case involving Maria Elena Perez (Shapiro's attorney) would not be accessible to the NCAA otherwise if not for Perez and the NCAA employees' actions. The employees involved in discovering that information no longer work with the NCAA.
''We cannot have the NCAA bringing forward an allegation that's predicated on information that was collected by processes none of us could stand for,'' Emmert said. ''We're going to move it as fast as possible, but we have to get this right.''
The NCAA has hired a new attorney to investigate how the situation involving Perez and the other case even came up. That is expected to begin on Thursday, according to Emmert. The goal is to have the report within a couple of weeks.
''We want to make sure that any evidence that's brought forward is appropriately collected and it has the integrity that we expect and demand,'' Emmert said in a press conference. He added that the NCAA found out about the trouble via unapproved bills from Perez.
In August 2011, Yahoo broke the news about Shapiro's involvement in an alleged Ponzi Scheme. Shapiro is currently serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for the aforementioned plan which involved $930 million.
Shapiro has to repay $82.7 million to the victims of his scheme as part of his sentence. Miami was not involved in the scheme on any level.
In hopes of a lighter sentence from the NCAA, Miami has followed the suit of other schools penalized for some form of recruiting violation. The Hurricanes have kept themselves out of the playoffs in football and basketball for the past two seasons in each sport.
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