re: What is the process that recruits/players are paid?

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Seems the IRS and the Feds would be all over this

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What law am I breaking by giving a kid $10k of my money as an LSU booster?

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What law am I breaking by giving a kid $10k of my money as an LSU booster?

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Likely none. But if the player is not claiming it on his tax returns, he is committing tax evasion.

If you are paying cash, you could be violating money laundering laws, depending on how you do it.

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THey sign a financial deal with the dealership and put $1 down. Then they agree to pay it off when they are drafted/graduate. They are banking on the player getting drafted.

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In most cases they find a relative that has a job that can justify the payments. The car is in the relatives name and the player drives it. The money funneled to the relative for the payments.

The big question is why the frick would anyone offer Jevonte Smart that kinda money

I agree with you. I really couldn't even guess as to how it's done.. those are just some ideas I've always had on the subject

Think of the craziest situations you can imagine to pay players and you still wouldn't be close. College football is a billion dollar industry and they are paying these players through whatever means it takes. A lot of colleges (boosters) have been burned many times over, but they're not going to rat on another program because they all cheat and they understand it's part of the business. Cars, money and houses are just a small part of the dirty world of recruiting.

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Likely none. But if the player is not claiming it on his tax returns, he is committing tax evasion.

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“Gifts” aren’t taxable. But payments are often giving to a relative so the IRS can’t say the player was paid for a job ( football).

I mean they had a whole documentary about it with the kid from Mississippi State (Foul Play: Paid in Mississippi). And this is low level teams....think about how crazy this gets for the big boys. The doc is pretty good too. Nothing we didnt already know of course.

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“Gifts” aren’t taxable. But payments are often giving to a relative so the IRS can’t say the player was paid for a job ( football).

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Cash "gifts" sometimes are not. And some non-cash "gifts" are taxable under certain taxes but it is obviously more difficult to trace, enforce, and find. Non-cash "gifts" are taxable when given in lieu of payment. Cash "gifts" aren't taxable when given in the form of "assistance" from a 503c, if documented properly (no 1099 issued).

But to get into the weeds a little for the resident Cyborg... the popular church proceeds. So HC wants a player, he's in a bidding war. Since you are recruiting him you are talking to the parents too and you are relationship building. Somewhere in there, at some time, somebody has asked about religion. If you are smart you've called at 11:15 on a Sunday to find out if they are on their way home from church.

At this point if they have their hand out your just going to be obvious at this point and with a wink and a nod using someone at the church. Probably a deacon (if proddy) or associate priest (if catholic); whomever it is probably the church treasurer. If their hand is not out you do the same thing but less obvious...

You give the cash to the church to "help the local community". Almost always a booster, very usually from a booster's business (tax deduction AND legal paper trail). If the parents hand is out, it's prearranged and they go to the church and request assistance and it is pre-arranged. If not, the church passes the money (after taking an arranged cut) to them telling them that they received a donation from an LSU guy and the church thinks they need "assistance" so here it is. There's a LEGAL paper trail. Parents do not have to report income or assistance to the NCAA.

Some other similar vehicles:
- In Arkansas they have CAPs, (e.g. CAPCA- Community Action Program for Central Arkansas). Checks for rent, food, mortgages, hospital bills, health insurance, etc. Almost every state has something similar. Texas has a version of this for every region (as Texans define it, such as E Texas, Panhandle, etc.)
- Various catholic nationwide assistance charities such as ARS that provides for housing for catholic seniors. Direct payments.
- Numerous scholarship programs directly from corporations such as Disney and Wal Mart. These "scholarships" always include a clause that they can be used for "ancillaries" such as food, housing, and transportation. Those are often foundations, which are 503c's just like a church and receive donations to partially fund those scholarships. These are also direct payments.

So the "bagmen" are person(s) who get money to a charity/assistance entity AND the person(s) at the charity/assistance entity who get it to the recruit. The money launder is entity. That's where it becomes cleaned.

Also note there's a new form out there. It's the "recruiting media", or rather the guys that work at them. Used to LSU (and Oregon) paid guys like Willie Liles to find and evaluate recruits and feed the information back to us. But we paid him, so he is an agent of LSU doing off-campus recruiting and basically if he does his job and a recruit does attend a school that paid him, you have an NCAA problem.

So these guys that are part of "recruiting media". Let me pose this to you:
- Many of them were independents that now are directly working for a 247 or rivals right.
- Many of them coach 7x7's, so have direct contact with recruits
- They fall under journalist and can have unlimited and unregulated contact with recruits (unlike boosters and coaches and paid agents/shadow staff).
- Schools are now hiring some of these guys, e.g. Barton Simmons

Is that not a helluva temptation for coaches? Can the NCAA see a school giving cash to a guy who works for Rivals? Couldn't that guy at Rivals, since he has unlimited and unregulated contact with the recruit, heavily influence that recruit one direction if paid for? Couldn't those payments be "cleaned" through the corporate employer (e.g. CBS-247) as bonuses? Is that why we are seeing issues with some reporting such as when one, and one only, 247 guy is reporting that Zach Evans has "signed" and is off the market when he is not?

Just throwing that out there.