NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for a longtime Adidas employee urged jurors to use common sense to conclude college basketball coaches knew money was being paid to families to steer top players to their schools.
Attorney Michael Schachter told jurors at a criminal trial's closings Thursday they could follow the evidence to conclude coaches at Louisville and Kansas encouraged payouts.
A prosecutor later disagreed, saying coaches were not "running rampant." The jury is likely to start deliberations Monday in the trial of an aspiring sports agent and two men who worked on the behalf of shoemaker Adidas.
Schachter, who represents James Gatto, an Adidas sports marketing manager, mocked the idea that coaches of the caliber of Bill Self at Kansas and Rick Pitino at Louisville didn't know what was going on.
