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SHAPIRO (R) |
Court records show the agreement between the school and
bankruptcy trustee Joel Tabas was filed last week. Once the agreement becomes
finalized, Miami would have 14 days to make payment to Tabas, who is overseeing
the effort to recoup money that Shapiro's investors lost.
The NCAA said in August that eight players would be
suspended for either one, four or six games -- most got only one-game bans --
and that they and four others would have to pay back what they received from
Shapiro, who claimed to give extra benefits to 72 players and football recruits
during his time as a booster, along with contributions to the university's
athletic department.
As a condition of the agreement, once it becomes final, the
trustee "releases the University and the Athletes from any and all claims,
counterclaims ... whether liability be direct or indirect." In short, that
means the value of the gifts past and present players received from Shapiro
will likely not be pursued by the trustee.
Shapiro said he gave athletes money, cars, yacht rides and
other benefits from 2002 through 2010. He is serving a 20-year prison term for
overseeing a $930 million Ponzi scheme, and involuntary bankruptcy proceedings
to recover at least some of the money his investors lost were initiated in
2009. When he was sentenced, federal officials said his grocery-distribution
scam led to investor losses of at least $80 million.
The NCAA is expected to levy sanctions against Miami when
its inquiry into the school's compliance practices concludes. Miami's football
team did not make itself eligible for selection to a bowl game this season, a
self-imposed penalty related to the NCAA investigation.
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