The man above is an NBA ref whose life you'd think was a Sopranos Episode. He helped out his gambling debts to the Mob by fixing the point spreads of NBA games. This story is almost a year old. What's freshly significant is on the day of Game 3 of the NBA Finals the bombshell comes out of specific instances that he cites where the league itself is doing the fixing. Read the Associated Press article quickly like I did and I assumed here is a guy trying to save his own skin and drag whoever is there down with him and using the maximum platform to do it in. Just like Alex Rodriguez and his free agency the night of the last game of the World Series.
Then I heard something that totally reset my paradigm on this whole thing. Rather than wrongly summarize it. Download it for yourself and make up your own mind. If anything this is an exercise that a quick story on a subject may not tell you what you need to know about the topic to get to a reasonable conclusion. I know I came to that conclusion.
Ed
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/columns/story?id=3436503
True or not, ref’s charges linger over NBA finals
By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball Writer 13 hours, 56 minutes ago
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LOS ANGELES (AP)—If Tim Donaghy’s latest allegations are true, Kobe Bryant
won his last championship with the help of an NBA conspiracy.And Scot Pollard
is still ringless because some guys in suits determined it would be that way.Even with Bryant chasing another title in a marquee NBA finals matchup between the Los Angeles Lakers
and Boston Celtics, the league still can’t escape the Donaghy mess, now nearly a year after learning the former referee bet on games he officiated.And the people who thought the spotlight would be theirs alone are pretty fed up.
"The whole Donaghy thing just makes me sick, if you want me to be honest," Boston coach Doc Rivers said Wednesday. "Paul Pierce
got injured and we questioned him, but we believe Donaghy? When you think of the logic of that crap, it really … I’m not going to go any further, but our league is a great league, and that stuff bothers me a lot. It really does."| ADVERTISEMENT |
In a letter filed Tuesday in New York, Donaghy’s attorney made a series of allegations about officiating corruption and misconduct within the NBA. The most damning accusation centered on the 2002 Western Conference finals, when the Lakers rallied from a 3-2 deficit to beat the Sacramento Kings
.Donaghy said two referees known as "company men" worked the controversial Game 6, when the Lakers shot 27 free throws in the final quarter and scored 16 of their last 18 points at the line in a 106-102 victory.
The injured Pollard, who now plays for Boston, was on Sacramento’s team, while Bryant and Derek Fisher
played for the Lakers squad that went on to sweep New Jersey for its third straight championship."I don’t know how you determine the game was rigged," Fisher said. "Obviously, I was there in the game. I don’t remember any moment thinking, ‘They’re helping us out a little bit.’ A lot of things change from game to game. Different officiating crews call games differently. I can’t comment on it. You still have to win the next game (Game 7). I’m not going to give my ring back, I know that."
Pollard was angry when he heard the complaint and acknowledged believing it was possible at first, but dismissed the idea of a conspiracy among referees because it’s too big a secret to keep for this long. And much like NBA commissioner David Stern a night earlier, he portrayed Donaghy as a criminal willing to say anything to save himself.
"For a guy that wasn’t at that game, didn’t ref that game, to come out and say that, and in the situation he’s in, I guess you could kind of say you could equate that to Charles Manson saying something about the Boston Strangler," Pollard said. "He’s in the business, but he doesn’t really have a lot of credibility. He wasn’t there."
News that the FBI was investigating Donaghy broke last July, shoving Bryant’s long-awaited first appearance with the U.S. national team out of the basketball headlines. Now the case has overshadowed the NBA finals’ return to Los Angeles.
Bryant dismissed Donaghy talk with a couple of one-word answers, invoking the name of the Patriots coach Bill Belichick—who knows a little about conspiracies from the Super Bowl videotaping scandal.
"I’m sorry to be Belichicky, but we don’t think about it too much, to be honest with you," Bryant said. "It’s not something we focus on as players. I think it’s more talked about outside of our circles more than it is inside. We know whatever legal proceedings they have going on, they’ll get to the bottom of the situation, and for us as players, all we can do is play."
Both coaches said they had no questions about the integrity of the referees, though the Lakers’ Phil Jackson said perhaps it would be best to have someone other than the league office govern the officials. Players’ association director Billy Hunter said no players have asked the union to investigate charges of referee corruption.
"To raise the issue of whether or not the games are set up and the outcome has already been dictated, I haven’t heard anybody raise that alarm or question," he said.
Hunter added that he felt bad for the league, knowing that Donaghy’s accusations, though lacking specifics, will be accepted as the truth by some skeptics.
"Clearly it feeds to that whole psyche, folks believe that there’s a series of conspiracies and the outcome is dictated and that it’s almost a show," Hunter said. "The last thing you want to do is to take on the aura of world wide wrestling.
"I think people want to believe that the winner is based on merit and the best team wins in a given circumstance and that there are no prerequisites. It’s not being staged. So what it does is it impacts the integrity of the game. So to that extent, yeah, I would be concerned, not just for the players, for the entire operation."
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Donaghy's claims serious, troubling for NBA
Munson
By Lester Munson
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: June 11, 2008, 11:49 PM ET
Legal Ramifications Of Donaghy's Allegations
Disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy asserted in publicly filed court papers Tuesday that six other officials had manipulated the outcomes of four NBA games, including two playoff games. Although Donaghy and his attorney, John F. Lauro, offered detail to support their claims of misconduct by referees, team executives and NBA executives, they did not offer the identities of the teams or the individuals.
Donaghy's explosive charges came in response to a demand from the NBA that Donaghy pay $1 million to the league, which claims to be a victim of the referee's admitted crimes. The league's demand for $1 million in restitution and Donaghy's response raise a number of legal questions. Here are some of the questions and their answers:
Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges this past summer, admitting he was guilty of gambling violations and money laundering. Everything seemed to have settled down, with Donaghy cooperating with federal investigators and awaiting his sentence. What prompted these developments in the middle of the NBA Finals?
Donaghy's sentencing is scheduled for July 14. He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison for conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce. In the usual course of presentence investigations and procedures, the federal probation department asks the "victim" about the damage resulting from the crime. As a "victim" of Donaghy's crimes, the NBA claimed in a June 5 letter that it was entitled to $1 million in restitution from Donaghy. Restitution, or the reimbursement of the victim's losses, typically pays back a bank or a charity for money lost in an embezzlement or a theft. Donaghy obviously damaged the NBA and its reputation, but there is no indication he stole any money from the league. The NBA claimed that it was forced to spend the nice round sum of $1 million investigating Donaghy and the damage he caused, and the league wants its money back. Clearly enraged by the unexpected demand from the NBA for $1 million, Donaghy and Lauro retaliated with detailed accusations of manipulation by other referees. It is the worst nightmare for the NBA, which might be considering a withdrawal of its demand for restitution.
Are Donaghy's allegations of referee misconduct new? How serious are his charges?
Donaghy first began telling the FBI about other referees in July 2007. He gave federal investigators additional information in a meeting in September. His claims are serious. They include allegations that the NBA attempted to insulate star players from technical fouls to build up ticket sales and television ratings. Most seriously, he claims there was a successful effort by two referees to extend a playoff series to a seventh game, assisting in the victory for the team that trailed 3-2 in the series. The accusations are the kinds of things that fuel conspiracy theories that abound among NBA fans, but Donaghy is now adding dates, places and games. According to Donaghy and Lauro, two referees in 2002 deliberately ignored fouls that resulted in injuries and called "made-up fouls" to give addition foul shots to one team. Even worse, Donaghy asserts that the referees did all of it because they were "company men" who "always act[ed] in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series."
Is it legal for Donaghy to go public with these charges?
Most paperwork in a presentence investigation in federal court is impounded. It is filed in secret and is available only to the judge, the lawyers and the probation department. The NBA's letter demanding restitution, for example, was filed in secret. But in a clever use of federal rules and procedures, Lauro filed Donaghy's explosive assertions in a public letter. The purpose of the letter, Lauro said, was to provide "a summary of Tim's cooperation" with the FBI. But its real purpose appears to be to fire back at the NBA after its demand for $1 million in restitution. As a cooperating witness admitting guilt and showing contrition, Donaghy was well on his way to a reduced sentence. Then the NBA makes its demand for $1 million. If Donaghy cannot make restitution, his jail sentence could be extended. Donaghy's plans for a reduced sentence were suddenly in jeopardy as a result of the NBA's demand. If Donaghy were to do additional time in prison, he could get even by pulling the curtain back on multiple episodes of alleged misconduct by NBA executives, owners and referees.
Will Donaghy's charges result in other investigations and other charges against other referees or anyone else?
The charges against Donaghy were the result of his gambling and his use of his position to manipulate games for gamblers. There is no claim of any gambling by anyone in the charges Donaghy made Tuesday. If his claims are true, they clearly show misconduct that could result in NBA discipline, but they might not be federal crimes. Because the games Donaghy describes occurred in various cities around the U.S., there might be more than one set of prosecutors looking into his accusations. The first sign that any of these potential investigations is under way will come July 14. If Donaghy's sentencing is postponed, it will be a clear sign that other investigations are under way on his claims.
What is the next step in the case against Donaghy?
Donaghy's attorneys want to see all the NBA's records of its investigation into Donaghy. The NBA investigation, according to Donaghy's court papers, included interviews of 57 NBA referees. Donaghy and his attorneys have asked a federal judge in Brooklyn to give them a subpoena for all NBA records resulting from the investigative efforts. The NBA claims the investigation cost $1 million, but Donaghy wants proof. Lauro argues that the investigation also was directed at other referees and other situations that did not involve Donaghy and that Donaghy should not be required to make restitution for that portion of the investigation. U.S. District Court Judge Carol Amon will decide whether Donaghy can go through the NBA's records.
Lester Munson, a Chicago lawyer and journalist who reports on investigative and legal issues in the sports industry, is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
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