Dawkins' email outlines proposed payments to players

Reuters

Published Nov 08, 2018 02:22PM ET

Dawkins' email outlines proposed payments to players

Aspiring agent Christian Dawkins shared his plan for paying players to a business partner in an email obtained by ESPN's "Outside the Lines."

Dawkins, who was convicted of wire fraud during a trial last month, sent his plan on Sept. 5, 2017, to pay current college players as well as future prospects to partner Munish Sood.

Dawkins divulged his payment plans for players at Alabama, Arizona, Cincinnati, Kentucky, LSU, Louisville, Miami, Mississippi State, Oregon, Southern (NYSE:SO) California and Xavier. Some of the payments were slated to begin that month.

Later that month, on Sept. 26, Dawkins was one of 10 people arrested by federal authorities conducting an investigation into corruption in college basketball.

Dawkins had formed a company called Loyd, Inc., with Loyd standing for Living Out Your Dreams.

"We want to be a one stop shop for everything," Dawkins wrote in the email. "We will take a majority interest in a Sports Agency, where we partner with certified agents, who we will then have our players sign to. The certified agency will essentially be our sister company. This way we can charge 3% on the team contract, 20% on the marketing, 5% on accounting and 5% on investment return. If we have a player on a [$]50 million deal for 4 years who's also making $500,000 a year in marketing, we should generate [$2 million] over those 4 years off of one player."

Dawkins said in the email he had reached deals with three players who had recently turned pro: Clemson's Jaron Blossomgame, Creighton's Justin Patton and Xavier's Edmond Sumner.

Among the then-college players on the list were Alabama's Collin Sexton, Arizona's Rawle Alkins, Cincinnati's Jacob Evans, Kentucky's Jarred Vanderbilt, LSU's Brandon Sampson, Louisville's Ray Spalding and V.J. King, Miami's Dewan Huell (now Hernandez), Mississippi State's Lamar Peters, Oregon's Tony Brown Jr., Southern California's De'Anthony Melton and Xavier's Trevon Bluiett.

Here is what Dawkins was proposing or ready to propose to various players:

Provide $1,500 per month to Sexton from September 2017 through April 2018, plus $23,000 in travel expenses to his family. Phone records display 15 phone calls Dawkins made to a number belonging to the Sexton family.

Proposed paying $2,500 per month to Alkins from September 2017 to April 2018, plus $30,000 in travel expenses for his family.

Proposed giving Vanderbilt a $100,000 line of credit and a $25,000 advance on marketing revenue if he was projected as a lottery pick at the end of the 2017-18 season. Also planned to give $30,000 in travel expenses to Vanderbilt's family, plus a $25,000 signing bonus to his father when his son turned pro.

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Proposed paying Melton $5,000 per month from September 2017 through April 2018 in addition to providing a $20,000 signing bonus to his uncle in April 2018. Melton was suspended by USC when the university determined a family member of Melton received an extra benefit.

Proposed paying Spalding $2,000 per month for three months, beginning in October 2017 and then raising it to $3,000 for the next four months. Spalding's teammate, King, was slated to received $2,000 per month during the same span.

Dawkins also had plans ready for top high school players, including Darius Bazley of Cincinnati and James Wiseman of Memphis, Tenn.

Bazley, who backed out of a commitment to Syracuse, recently signed a deal with New Balance for $1 million guaranteed that could be worth up to $14 million. He will serve a three-month internship for the company before entering the 2019 NBA Draft.

Dawkins' plan was to play Bazley $1,500 per month from September 2017 to April 2018, plus $20,000 in travel expenses for his family.

Dawkins proposed paying Wiseman $3,000 per month from October 2018 through October 2019 and increasing the payout to $4,000 over the following 12 months.