Lake to meet with the NCAA tomorrow…or is he bluffing?

I blogged last week that Lloyd Lake, co-founder of the now defunct New Era Sports & Entertainment along with partner Michael Michaels, was scheduled to meet Friday with NCAA investigators and allegedly supply them with documents and receipts, including a deposit slip, showing that Lake had placed hundreds of dollars into Reggie Bush’s personal bank account during Bush’s 2005 football season with the USC Trojans. Remember that Lake has already filed a civil lawsuit in a San Diego County court alleging that he and Michaels gave more than $291,600 in cash and gifts to Bush and his family over a period that stretched from November 2004 to January 2006. Friday’s meeting, however, never took place, and was pushed ahead to this Tuesday (tomorrow), according to Brian Watkins, one of Lake’s attorneys. Watkins said the bank slip would be among the documents presented, but declined to give an exact amount for the deposit. “We gathered all of our evidence before filing our lawsuit,” Watkins said, “[and] we plan to cooperate fully [with investigators].”

Another piece of evidence against Bush and his family, allegedly held by the Lake camp, includes a tape-recorded conversation in which Lake, Bush and [stepfather Lamar] Griffin discussed cash and gifts.” However, according to the L.A. Times,
Watkins declined to comment on whether or not a tape would be part of the evidence submitted to the NCAA, repeating his mantra that “we will cooperate fully.” But, stated the Times, “another source familiar with the situation questioned why no such documents or evidence were presented during private negotiations between the parties [this past summer], and wondered whether the information actually exists.” Watkins, according to the Times, has finally shed some light on what occurred during June’s mediation session with Bush’s attorney, David Cornwell, and marketing agent, Mike Orstein. The session, which occurred not long after Michaels had reached a settlement with Bush that Yahoo.com reported at between $200,000 and $300,000,
supposedly broke down, according to Watkins, when Cornwell left the room and refused to return. And during the talks, while Bush waited across the street in a hotel, Watkins states that “Cornwell insisted that it did not matter if Bush eventually lost his Heisman (a possible pending sanction by the NCAA). He told me, ‘Reggie’s rich, he’s in the NFL, that’s the goal.’”

Conquest Chronicles blogs on all things related to USC football and opined yesterday that maybe this is all a ruse by Lake—that perhaps he does not have the evidence he claims he does, that rather he is “playing some gamesmanship,” in hopes of still settling with Bush, a la his former partner Michaels. The blogger writes that “there is a strong possibility that if Lake does have information in regards to Bush that hurts [USC], that [the school] could come back and sue Lake.”

The idea of a suit against Lake is not far fetched, and apparently USC has some experience in suing sport agents. In 1995, for example, agent Robert Troy Caron was sued in Los Angeles Superior Court by USC after three of its football players were declared ineligible by the NCAA because of their dealings with him. Investigations by the NCAA and the Pac-10 showed that Caron, a personal-injury lawyer who was not registered at the time as a sports agent in California, had hired a young man to befriend and move in with the athletes in question as their roommate, and also to pay for their meals and give them pagers and telephone calling cards. Caron eventually settled with USC, agreeing to pay $50,000 and also agreeing to avoid further contact with any of the school’s athletes. What was the school’s theory of recovery? It seemed to be rooted in contract law. USC alleged in its complaint that Caron had induced the athletes to breach their contract with the university—a scholarship agreement in which they promised to obey NCAA rules— by accepting impermissible cash and other benefits.

So perhaps Lake is mindful of a similar suit here from USC, given that the brunt of the punishment that may follow will fall on the school (possible revocation of wins, titles, scholarships, etc.) To that extent Cornwell is right. Bush is in fact long gone and rich, and may indeed not care about his collegiate legacy and Heisman trophy. And perhaps the suit and alleged bounty of evidence is a bluff. Watkins of course would lose his license to practice law if that is the case. But Lake seemingly has nothing to lose at this point. The amount he is seeking in court is roughly what Michaels got in his own settlement, but a settlement would be far less costly, and also wouldn’t expose the deception and misstatements of fact that Lake and Michaels were surely guilty of while wooing Bush and his family (which would probably mitigate any amount they’d eventually get anyway). The saga continues.

— Jason G. Wulterkens