Sports marketing officials at Adidas and Nike were among those charged Tuesday morning in a sweeping bribery and corruption case that struck at the heart of college and youth basketball.
The criminal case enveloped a senior executive at Adidas. Jim Gatto, who identifies himself as Adidas' head of sports marketing on his LinkedIn page, was accused of conspiring with coaches to pay high school athletes to play for colleges sponsored by his company.
The case was filed after a two-year FBI investigation. Several basketball agents and college assistant coaches were also charged in the case.
Also charged was Merl Code, who once headed a junior basketball league for Nike.