U. of Miami booster reveals impermissible benefits from 2002-10
An 11-month investigation by Yahoo! Sports into the U. of Miami’s athletic program revealed that dozens of Miami football players allegedly accepted a wide range of impermissible benefits over a span of nearly a decade.
Nevin Shapiro, a longtime Miami booster who is currently serving a 20-year jail sentence for coordinating a $930 million Ponzi scheme, told Yahoo! that he supplied at least 72 current and former Miami athletes with benefits that are in clear violation of several NCAA bylaws.
Among the illicit benefits that Shapiro provided were cash payments of as much as $50,000 to individual players; thousands of dollars’ worth of jewelry and clothing; free yacht rides and trips to night clubs; prostitution paid for by the booster for 39 players; and bounties for any Miami players who were able to injure the star players on rival teams such as Florida and Florida State. Shapiro and other sources have provided considerable amounts of documentation to back up their claims.
Shapiro also said that several Miami coaches—including longtime head men’s basketball coach Frank Haith—were aware of Shapiro’s activities and sometimes were actively involved.
The NCAA has been conducting its own investigation of Miami’s athletic program for the past five months. Potential punishments for the alleged violations remain unknown.
Google to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5B
Google announced its intent on Monday to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. If approved by regulators, the deal would catapult Google – the maker of Android – into competition with other smart phone makers, including Apple.
“The combination of Google and Motorola will not only supercharge Android, but will also enhance competition and offer consumers accelerating innovation, greater choice, and wonderful user experiences,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google, in a post on the company’s blog.
The merger would give Google access to the over 17,000 patents that Motorola Mobility currently holds. Google had previously tried to acquire several thousand patents from Nokia, but was outbid other firms.
Google has acquired many of its products through acquistions, including AdSense and Youtube. The Motorola deal would be Google’s largest.