A jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts against two former Adidas employees and an aspiring sports agent in Manhattan federal court Wednesday after more than two days’ deliberation, concluding that it constituted fraud for the defendants to funnel money to the families of college basketball recruits in exchange for the prospects’ commitment to teams sponsored by Adidas.
James Gatto, Adidas’s former head of global basketball marketing; Merl Code Jr., another former Adidas employee; and an aspiring agent named Christian Dawkins were found guilty of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, after a three-week trial.
The three men could face several years in prison.