College basketball’s second corruption trial continued its second week of proceedings with more testimony that centered around government informant Munich Sood on Wednesday.
During the Manhattan federal trial of former runner Christian Dawkins and shoe-company executive Merl Code, Sood testified in detail on Tuesday about Dawkins and his ties with former USC assistant coach Tony Bland -- who pled guilty to in January to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, Dawkins was attempting to allegedly recruit USC players through Bland as a meeting was set up between Dawkins, Sood, an undercover agent and the uncle of former Trojan De’Anthony Melton.
After Sood finished his testimony and cross examination, the rest of the day in court had the government adding more texts and wiretapped calls into evidence as Dawkins’ and Bland’s relationship continued to remain the focus. Melton and USC recruit Taeshon Cherry (who ended up at Arizona State) were mentioned as Dawkins’ targets along with Elijah Stewart.
At one point, Dawkins offers a $50,000 line of credit to Stewart through Bland, but it is seemingly rejected by Bland under the guise that Stewart doesn’t need it because he’s frugal with his money. Bland also talked about how he was the point man for Stewart in his future pro transition as he appeared to try to sell Dawkins on being more interested in Stewart.
Dawkins also offers up that he allegedly had to give the father of Alabama’s Collin Sexton “20 grand” -- the first direct mention of Sexton during the trial.
While Tuesday’s day in court wasn’t nearly as explosive as Monday -- which saw LSU and Arizona get prominently mentioned -- Wednesday should be an interesting day as additional evidence is expected to be entered involving Dawkins and Bland’s conversations.