Sports jacket, college hoops bribery tipster, passes away at 53

• Paula Lavigne, ESPN Staff WriterJan 10, 2024, 04:55 PM ET

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  • Information analyst and press reporter for ESPN’s Business and Investigative System.
  • Winner, 2014 Alfred I. duPont Columbia University Award; finalist, 2012 IRE broadcast award; winner, 2011 Gannett Structure Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism; Emmy chose, 2009.

Former financial manager Marty Blazer, who prompted an FBI examination into bribery in college basketball that caused sweeping criminal charges and convictions and several NCAA examinations, passed away Monday at his home near Pittsburgh.Police in Findlay Municipality wrote in an e-mail that Louis Martin “Marty “Sports Jacket III, 53, died of natural causes however declined to supply further information. Sports jacket is survived by his wife and 3 children.Officials with the Securities and Exchange Commission began examining

Blazer in 2013 on accusations that he defrauded 5 customers, including expert athletes, out of more than$2 million and used that cash to buy motion picture and music endeavors that fizzled.Editor’s Picks 2 Related During that examination, Sports jacket likewise admitted to paying college professional athletes at numerous

universities to

protect them as clients when they turned professional, which is a violation of NCAA rules. According to filings in federal court, Sports jacket agreed to deal with the FBI to dig further into the world of financial advisers, agents, clothing business and coaches guiding athletes to particular schools, firms or brands through bribes.Blazer’s info, cooperation and testimony in the investigation helped the government safe 10 convictions for crimes associated with arranging for and paying kickbacks to college athletes, their relatives or partners, and coaches. It landed an Adidas executive and 2 associates in jail, in addition to convictions of four assistant coaches, two of whom got brief jail sentences.The criminal examination likewise prompted a wide-ranging NCAA examination of about a dozen Division I programs and directly or indirectly caused the shooting or discipline of multiple coaches, including LSU’s Will Wade, Arizona’s Sean Miller and Louisville’s Rick Pitino, and sanctions against various schools.Because of his cooperation in the investigation, and with the assistance of federal prosecutors and the NCAA, Blazer got a lax sentence– one year of probation– in February 2020 after having pleaded guilty in September 2017 to a series of charges, including securities scams, wire fraud, exacerbated identity theft, and making false statements and documents. He likewise was bought to pay about$1.56 million in restitution to the clients he defrauded.Before his death, Sports jacket spoke with ESPN about prepare for his function in the scandal to be made into a motion picture and his pitch for a podcast series to accompany it. In 2022, Amazon Studios and George Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures obtained the screen rights to Blazer’s book,”Hot Dog Cash: Inside the Biggest Scandal in the History of College Sports, “written by Guy Lawson and due out in June.