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South Carolina basketball program subpoenaed by FBI in September

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ahead of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 31, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona.

Ronald Martinez

In late September, ten people were arrested in connection with the FBI’s probe into corruption and bribery in college basketball. Among the ten was former Oklahoma State assistant coach Lamont Evans, who was accused of accepting $22,000 in bribes to help steer basketball players to agents or financial advisors.

Prior to joining Mike Boynton’s staff at Oklahoma State, Evans spent four seasons on Frank Martin’s staff at South Carolina.

As a result, the South Carolina men’s basketball program was subpoenaed by the FBI at the same time as those arrests. News of the program being subpoenaed was reported by Nathaniel Cary of the Greenville News on Tuesday.

Given the connection to Evans, it’s no surprise that South Carolina’s program was subpoenaed. That was also the case for the Oklahoma State, Arizona and USC programs, with former Arizona assistant Emanuel “Book” Richardson and former USC associate head coach Tony Bland being arrested as well.

Evans, Richardson and Bland are three of the eight who have also been indicted by the FBI in relation to the still-ongoing investigation.

All eight have pleaded not guilty, and financial advisor Munish Sood and grassroots basketball coach Brad Augustine were not indicted by the FBI. It was reported by Yahoo Sports in November that both Sood and Augustine appeared in the updated indictments as “co-conspirators.”

According to the Greenville News, South Carolina has hired a third party to work alongside the NCAA in investigating the men’s basketball program. In the subpoena, the grand jury has requested a host of documents including any communication between the basketball program or athletic department with the families of any current or former player dating back to January 1, 2014.