Bush Received Improper Benefits

[Maui Sooner]

LInk http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=An2xSDvbbMYt1IV6JQmeuokcvrYF?slug=ys-bushprobe&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

Too long to copy all of the article

Cash and carry
An eight-month probe uncovers evidence that Reggie Bush and his family appear to have accepted improper benefits from prospective agents while at USC.

By Charles Robinson and Jason Cole, Yahoo! Sports

September 14, 2006
An eight-month Yahoo! Sports investigation has revealed that Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush and his family appear to have accepted financial benefits worth more than $100,000 from marketing agents while Bush was playing at the University of Southern California.

The benefits, which could lead to NCAA sanctions for USC and retroactively cost Bush his college eligibility and Heisman, were supplied by two groups attempting to woo Bush as a client. Current Bush marketing agent Mike Ornstein and one of Ornstein's employees were involved. So were Michael Michaels and Lloyd Lake, who attempted to launch an agency called New Era Sports & Entertainment, pursuing Bush as their first client.

Bush declined comment to Yahoo! Sports, and Ornstein denied any wrongdoing on his and Bush's behalf.

But documents and on-the-record interviews with sources close to the situation reveal that Bush and his family appear to have received financial benefits from Ornstein and a business associate. Those benefits include:

$595.20 in round-trip airfare from San Diego to Oakland in November 2005 for Bush's stepfather, LaMar Griffin, his mother, Denise Griffin and younger brother to attend the USC-California game at Berkeley. The fees were charged to the credit card of Jamie Fritz, an employee of Ornstein. The document detailing the charges was provided by Lee Pfeifer, an estranged business associate of Ornstein's.
$250.65 for limousine transportation from the Oakland airport to the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco that November weekend for the Bush family, charged to Fritz, according to a document. Ornstein acknowledged both he and Bush's family stayed at the luxury hotel.
Additionally, New Jersey memorabilia dealer Bob DeMartino alleges that Ornstein provided:

Suits for Bush's stepfather and brother to wear during the Dec. 10, 2005 Heisman ceremony in New York, a makeover for his mother for the event and limousine transportation;
Weekly payments of at least $1,500 to the Bush family.
Documents and multiple sources also link Bush and his family to receiving benefits from New Era's financial backers, including:

$623.63 for a hotel stay by Bush at the Venetian Resort & Casino in Las Vegas from March 11-13, 2005, charged to Michaels, according to a document signed by Bush.
$1,574.86 for a stay by Bush at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego from March 4-6, 2005, paid for by Michaels, according to a hotel document, a hotel employee and a source.
Approximately $13,000 to Bush from New Era to purchase and modify a car, three sources said.
As reported by Yahoo! Sports in April, $54,000 in rent-free living for a year at Michaels' $757,500 home in Spring Valley, Calif., according to Michaels and San Diego attorney Brian Watkins.
Also from previous Yahoo! reports, $28,000 from Michaels to help Bush's family settle pre-existing debt, according to Michaels and Watkins.
Thousands of dollars in spending money to both Bush and his family from the prospective agents, according to multiple sources.
Approached about the financial ties on Sept. 7. Bush politely dismissed a Yahoo! Sports reporter.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said, three days before making his NFL debut with the New Orleans Saints last Sunday.

Meanwhile, Ornstein denied giving Bush or his family benefits, calling the accusation of cash payments a lie. Ornstein described travel arrangements made by Fritz as loans that were paid back by the Bush family.

"Reggie Bush never received an extra benefit from Mike Ornstein other than what he was allowed to get from the NCAA when he worked with us," Ornstein said, referring to the fact that Bush was an intern at Ornstein's marketing company in the summer of 2005. "I feel pretty damn good about that.''

Asked why his employee, Fritz, had paid for airfare and a limousine for the Bush family's trip to the Cal game, Ornstein said he believed the funds were paid back.

"Jamie may have paid or put it on his credit card," Ornstein said. "I don't think (Reggie's) parents have a credit card, but his parents paid for everything."

Fritz declined comment, but documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports indicate both the airfare and limousine rental for the trip to the Bay Area were paid in full on Fritz's American Express card prior to the trip being taken. Ornstein also used the card in August to book his own trip to Bush's NFL preseason debut against the Tennessee Titans.

The card establishes a direct link between Bush's family and Ornstein's office while Bush was still at USC, but Ornstein insisted it was merely a matter of helping the family.

"If the dad asked, then maybe (Jamie helped)," he said. "The (family) went on other trips. I'm sure the father – if it was anything that needed a credit card to guarantee the hotel and everything – then I'm sure Jamie will have documentation and cash receipts from the father. I guarantee it."

Asked whether he was aware that such loans could constitute an NCAA violation, Ornstein replied: "I have no idea."

NCAA by-law 12.3.1.2 states that an athlete shall be deemed ineligible if he or she accepts benefits from agents or marketing representatives. The rule further states that student-athletes, their family or friends cannot receive benefits or loans from agents. Additionally, NCAA by-law 12.1.2.1.6 states that athletes cannot receive preferential treatment, benefits or services because of the individual's athletics reputation or skill or pay-back potential as a professional athlete, unless such treatment, benefits or services are specifically permitted under NCAA legislation.

The NCAA launched an investigation into Bush's eligibility in April after Yahoo! Sports reported that Bush's family had not paid rent after living for a year in a home owned by Michaels. A Pac-10 investigation followed.

If the NCAA rules that Bush received extra benefits during his playing career at USC, he could be ruled retroactively ineligible. Since some of the benefits date back to the 2004 season, the Trojans' national championship that season could be rescinded. USC could face further NCAA sanctions and Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy could be in jeopardy. The Heisman ballot indicates that an athlete must meet NCAA eligibility requirements to be considered for college football's most prestigious award.

Yahoo! Sports was denied a request last week to interview USC coach Pete Carroll, running backs coach Todd McNair and athletic director Mike Garrett.

The university instead released a statement though its counsel.

"USC cannot comment on any matter that is the subject of an ongoing NCAA and Pac-10 investigation," university counsel Kelly Bendell said. "USC continues to cooperate fully with the investigation."

Citing policy of not discussing ongoing investigations, NCAA officials declined to comment on the Bush matter.

Following the Trojans' loss to the University of Texas in the national championship game in January 2006, Bush turned professional. He hired Ornstein as his marketing agent, leaving a string of spurned would-be business representatives who claim Bush and his family owes them money. In April, Bush was drafted second overall by the Saints and he later signed a six-year contract guaranteeing him $26.3 million. Ornstein has since helped arrange marketing deals for Bush worth approximately $50 million.

The potential problem for USC goes beyond the trail of money to Bush. The Trojan program could be found by the NCAA to have failed to exert proper institutional control.

Sources told Yahoo! Sports that representatives of New Era were allowed into the USC locker room during the 2005 season. Ornstein and other agents frequented the USC sidelines during several games and numerous practices that season, according to published reports.

Also, McNair allegedly knew of Bush's involvement with the New Era venture before last season's national championship game against Texas, according to two sources. And at one point during the 2005 season, sources say Bush thought that Carroll knew about his parent's living arrangement and feared he was going to conduct his own investigation. Bush called Michaels, instructing that if Carroll called regarding the house to "tell him that you're a longtime family friend." Carroll never called Michaels.

In April, the Bush camp attempted to distance the running back from a direct relationship with Michaels.

"I know for a fact that everything is fine and this is all blown out of proportion and there's more to the story than is being told right now," Bush said April 27 at a predraft meeting with reporters in New York.

But when Bush stayed at the Venetian almost one year earlier, he signed for room charges that were paid for on Michaels' credit card. Another document related to that stay was filled out by Michaels, authorizing the hotel to charge Bush's stay to one of Michaels' credit cards. Yahoo! Sports obtained copies of both documents.

Earlier in March 2005, Bush stayed for two days at the Manchester Hyatt on the downtown San Diego waterfront, according to a document, a hotel front-desk employee and another source. Charges for the room were paid for on Michaels' credit card. The dates of the stay coincided with Bush attending a birthday party for former NFL and San Diego State star Marshall Faulk.

THE FAMILY ALLOWANCE

For Bush's family, the makeover, suits and limousine for the Heisman ceremony were a small part of the benefits they allegedly received.

DeMartino said that on the weekend of the Heisman ceremony in New York, three weeks before USC faced Texas in the BCS championship, Ornstein borrowed $500 from him to help make an "allowance" payment to Bush's family. DeMartino, who has known Ornstein for about 20 years, said he was at the family's hotel in New York to meet with them about a memorabilia proposal that he had submitted to Ornstein in November.

"We were standing around waiting for the family to show up," DeMartino said, recalling the Dec. 9 meeting. "Mike says to me, ‘(Expletive), it's pay day.' He looked in his wallet, said he was a little short and asked me if he could borrow some money till the next day so he could give the family their money."

DeMartino said Ornstein explained to him that Bush's stepfather received a weekly payment of $1,000. Bush's mother received $500 and Bush's younger brother also received money.

"I'm not going to lie for the guy (Ornstein). You asked me a question, I'm going to tell you the truth," said DeMartino, who received payment after settling a financial dispute with Ornstein last week. The day after settling, DeMartino told Yahoo! Sports that he stood by his statements regarding his interaction with Ornstein in New York.

"That is a 100-percent lie," Ornstein said in a phone interview last week. "That never happened. I swear on my son, I swear on my mother, I swear on my brother. … I swear on my whole family. Let them all die tomorrow if I'm telling a lie."

Repeated attempts to reach LaMar and Denise Griffin by phone for comment were unsuccessful.

New Era's Lake, interviewed by Yahoo! Sports at the South Bay Detention Center in Chula Vista, Calif., on Aug. 27, said he was told by Bush that Ornstein was paying the running back.

Asked why DeMartino would say Ornstein was giving Bush and his family benefits, Ornstein said it was an act of vengeance after Ornstein didn't sign DeMartino as Bush's memorabilia agent. DeMartino claims he was the one who backed out of the deal, because Ornstein was asking for too much money. Asked how Bush's family was able to afford travel to USC road games last season and live in a 3,000-square-foot house belonging to a New Era Sports representative, Ornstein said he had "no idea."

"I'm not involved with that," Ornstein said. "I wasn't involved with the family at that point.

"If (Reggie's step) father did something wrong six months ago, eight months ago, that's not a story to me. … Did Michael Michaels do something like that with them? He may have, but Mr. Griffin is living in San Diego and Reggie is up in L.A., so how would he know?

"If you ask me, Mike Ornstein, I'd say 100-percent Reggie never took anything."

Ornstein said starting in November 2005, he advised the family on some issues and recommended agents but gave the family nothing of value until after signing Bush.

"And I haven't really given them anything since I signed Reggie," Ornstein said. "Reggie's been taking care of his family. On a couple of occasions, Reggie's (step)father borrowed money and he paid me back afterwards.''

Ornstein is the former director of club marketing for NFL Properties who in 1995 pled guilty to one count of mail fraud for his actions in an attempt to defraud the league. Ornstein was sentenced to five years probation, four months of home confinement and had to make $160,000 restitution to the league for the crime, according to published reports.

As a followup to their meeting in New York, DeMartino said that Ornstein solicited via email a $500,000 down payment for a prospective memorabilia deal. The email is dated Dec. 29, five days before Bush played in his last college football game and within two weeks of signing a contract to be represented by Ornstein.

Ornstein acknowledges that he negotiated in principle numerous marketing deals on behalf of Bush during the 2005 season. NCAA rule 12.3.1.2 reads in part "an individual shall be ineligible … if any person who represents any individual in the marketing of his or her athletic ability."

Ornstein contends that he operated within the NCAA rules, since no deal was finalized until after the season.

"All of that was based on only if I got [Bush] as client," Ornstein told reporters at the NFL Draft in April. "It was only going to be if and when I signed him. No deal was ever consummated until Reggie signed with me after the season."

At the same time Bush's family was allegedly receiving money from Ornstein, they continued to take gifts and benefits from Michaels as well, according to two sources. Michaels bought them expensive dinners and took them on shopping trips, the sources said. And the family continued to live in Michaels' home, without paying rent, until April.

Bush asserted in April that he and his family did nothing improper after news of his parents' living arrangements surfaced on the eve of the NFL Draft.

"When this is all said and done, everybody will see at the end of the day that we've done nothing – absolutely nothing wrong," Bush said during an interview with ESPN on April 24.

Bush's family was eventually evicted from the home in Spring Valley after failing to pay approximately $54,000 agreed to in a lease with Michaels. A source said the family also promised to buy the home from Michaels at one point. It's now up for sale. When the family moved out, Michaels said they also took approximately $12,000 worth of furniture purchased by Michaels.

GROUND TRANSPORTATION


Beyond the house and other payments, sources say New Era Sports paid for a pristine, black-on-black 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS for Bush.

Although the car was almost 10 years old, the model is popular for a number of stylistic reasons. First off, the car, which features a small block, V-8 engine, is particularly fast. Second, it boasted a frame fitted for wide, speed-rated tires, which allows it to be detailed with large rims. Sources say that after Bush took control of the car early in 2005 it was decked out with such rims and an expensive stereo system was installed.

The car was allegedly purchased for Bush. Sources say it was bought in the Los Angeles area.

Bush is also seen sitting on the hood of a car fitting that description in a full-page photo in the June/July issue of DUB Magazine, which is dedicated to high-performance and detailed cars. It regularly features pictures and articles about athletes and their automobiles.

THE GREAT DIVIDE


Bush, his family and attorney David Cornwell have been in on-again, off-again settlement discussions with Michaels and Lake since January. At one point early in the negotiations, Cornwell offered Michaels and attorney Brian Watkins, who represented Michaels at the time and still represents Lake, $100,000 to settle the matter, a source said.

[okienole3]

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=ys-bushprobe&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[CatfishSooner]

wow...a little more than Bomar got.

[sooneron]

Water is wet and usc is full of fuggin liars.

[mrowl]

wow. They have covered everything. very detailed.

this has to put USC in the NCAA cross-hairs.

[BeetDigger]

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=ys-bushprobe&prov=yhoo&type=lgns


Beat you by 2 minutes:

Thread (http://www.soonerfans.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77916)

[SCOUT]

wow. They have covered everything. very detailed.

this has to put USC in the NCAA cross-hairs.


Nothing will happen to USC. They have already taken drastic measures. It says so right in that article.

"We've always talked about the stuff, this time we gave them a little handy handout," Carroll said of the parents in The Times. "I know that even without doing anything, their awareness is elevated."

[mrowl]

Nothing will happen to USC. They have already taken drastic measures. It says so right in that article.

heh.

[BeetDigger]

[NCAA/Myles Brand] Get that team on this that investigated Ohio State. They were able to make that go away without making me do anything. I want this to go away. USC just can't be put on probation under my watch. [/NCAA/Myles Brand]

[Penguin]

The link says Bush probe. Hee hee! :D

[OUHOMER]

I believe the universities should be able to sue these sports agents. If an agent and a student athlete do this and bring down a school they should be able to sue both of them.
Providing the school knew nothing about this.

[poke4christ]

They really should have to forfiet that championship IMHO.

Zach

[swardboy]

The link says Bush probe. Hee hee! :D

Trojans in a bush probe...

[sooneron]

I believe the universities should be able to sue these sports agents. If an agent and a student athlete do this and bring down a school they should be able to sue both of them.
Providing the school knew nothing about this.
I can guarantee you that once this got out back in the spring, suc went into full lockdown cover up mode.

[Widescreen]

Will this cost USC their 2005 national championship? Oh, wait...

[Since71ASooner4Life]

They really should have to forfiet that championship IMHO.

Zach


They can forfeit that title, but it belongs in the toilet if they do.

[BOOMERBRADLEY]

Actually it would go to us

[CatfishSooner]

Actually it would go to us


I totally agree.:)

[TrophyCollector]

I totally agree.:)

Hell yea, F back-to-back, we'll win 2 in the same season.

[Since71ASooner4Life]

Actually it would go to us

Who wants a title not won (that's sugar coating it) on the field? I 've been trying to suppress my memory of that game and forget it ever happened, and getting a title for it out of this violation would make us the butt of jokes from now till the end of the universe

[Ash]

Is it me, or at one point in the article do the quotes from the agents sound like they could be inserted into a stereotypical mob movie?


"That is a 100-percent lie," Ornstein said in a phone interview last week. "That never happened. I swear on my son, I swear on my mother, I swear on my brother. … I swear on my whole family. Let them all die tomorrow if I'm telling a lie."

[SanDiegoSoonerGal]

Former home of Bush's parents put on market for $775,000




By Brent Schrotenboer
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 14, 2006

The controversial Spring Valley house once occupied by Reggie Bush's parents has been put on the market for $775,000 and is being advertised as “the famous Reggie Bush house” in its real estate listing.


The ad reminds potential buyers that the 3,002-square-foot residence on Apple Street was “seen on ESPN, CNN, MSNBC, Sports Illustrated and inside the sports page of almost every newspaper in the country!”

“The history behind the house is generating a ton of interest,” said Daniel Ellis, a real estate agent for Assist2Sell Realty. “It's mentioned in all the ads we have, and it is a selling tool. People are familiar with it, and it will draw them to the house and get them to take a look at it.”

After living there for about a year, Bush's parents moved out in April after being accused by the owner, Michael Michaels, of not having paid $54,000 in rent. That triggered an NCAA investigation that could jeopardize their son's Heisman Trophy and cause USC to forfeit games in which Bush played.

Michaels was an investor in a fledgling sports marketing agency that sought to represent Bush. NCAA rules prohibit its athletes and their family members from accepting benefits from agents.

The NCAA investigation remains in a holding pattern while the attorney for the agency, Brian Watkins, said he is still compiling information for a pending fraud lawsuit against Bush and his parents. He has accused the family of taking about $300,000 in expenses from the agency's investors but signing with another agency instead.

“The ball is in one of their two courts,” said Ron Barker, the Pac-10 Conference's associate commissioner for governance and enforcement. “Either (Watkins) files suit, or it's up to the NCAA to say enough time has gone by” and to proceed with the investigation.

NCAA investigations sometimes take years if other litigation gets in the way. Barker worked with the NCAA when it investigated Michigan's “Fab Five” basketball players in a case that spanned 10 years.

Bush has denied his family did anything wrong and said details would emerge later.

Michaels bought the house in 2005 for $757,000. He did not return a call seeking comment.

“It's been lived in only a short time,” Ellis said. “It's basically a model home.”

Link (www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20060914-9999-1s14house.html)

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Cash and carry

An eight-month probe uncovers evidence that Reggie Bush and his family appear to have accepted improper benefits from prospective agents while at USC.
By Charles Robinson (http://sports.yahoo.com/top/expertsarchive?author=Charles+Robinson) and Jason Cole (http://sports.yahoo.com/top/expertsarchive?author=Jason+Cole), Yahoo! Sports September 14, 2006
An eight-month Yahoo! Sports investigation has revealed that Heisman Trophy-winning running back Reggie Bush and his family appear to have accepted financial benefits worth more than $100,000 from marketing agents while Bush was playing at the University of Southern California.
The benefits, which could lead to NCAA sanctions for USC and retroactively cost Bush his college eligibility and Heisman, were supplied by two groups attempting to woo Bush as a client. Current Bush marketing agent Mike Ornstein and one of Ornstein's employees were involved. So were Michael Michaels and Lloyd Lake, who attempted to launch an agency called New Era Sports & Entertainment, pursuing Bush as their first client.
Bush declined comment to Yahoo! Sports, and Ornstein denied any wrongdoing on his and Bush's behalf.
But documents and on-the-record interviews with sources close to the situation reveal that Bush and his family appear to have received financial benefits from Ornstein and a business associate. Those benefits include:

$595.20 in round-trip airfare from San Diego to Oakland in November 2005 for Bush's stepfather, LaMar Griffin, his mother, Denise Griffin and younger brother to attend the USC-California game at Berkeley. The fees were charged to the credit card of Jamie Fritz, an employee of Ornstein. The document detailing the charges was provided by Lee Pfeifer, an estranged business associate of Ornstein's.
$250.65 for limousine transportation from the Oakland airport to the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco that November weekend for the Bush family, charged to Fritz, according to a document. Ornstein acknowledged both he and Bush's family stayed at the luxury hotel. Additionally, New Jersey memorabilia dealer Bob DeMartino alleges that Ornstein provided:

Suits for Bush's stepfather and brother to wear during the Dec. 10, 2005 Heisman ceremony in New York, a makeover for his mother for the event and limousine transportation;
Weekly payments of at least $1,500 to the Bush family. Documents and multiple sources also link Bush and his family to receiving benefits from New Era's financial backers, including:

$623.63 for a hotel stay by Bush at the Venetian Resort & Casino in Las Vegas from March 11-13, 2005, charged to Michaels, according to a document signed by Bush.
$1,574.86 for a stay by Bush at the Manchester Hyatt in San Diego from March 4-6, 2005, paid for by Michaels, according to a hotel document, a hotel employee and a source.
Approximately $13,000 to Bush from New Era to purchase and modify a car, three sources said.
As reported by Yahoo! Sports in April, $54,000 in rent-free living for a year at Michaels' $757,500 home in Spring Valley, Calif., according to Michaels and San Diego attorney Brian Watkins.
Also from previous Yahoo! reports, $28,000 from Michaels to help Bush's family settle pre-existing debt, according to Michaels and Watkins.
Thousands of dollars in spending money to both Bush and his family from the prospective agents, according to multiple sources. Approached about the financial ties on Sept. 7. Bush politely dismissed a Yahoo! Sports reporter.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said, three days before making his NFL debut with the New Orleans Saints (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/nor/) last Sunday.
Meanwhile, Ornstein denied giving Bush or his family benefits, calling the accusation of cash payments a lie. Ornstein described travel arrangements made by Fritz as loans that were paid back by the Bush family.
"Reggie Bush never received an extra benefit from Mike Ornstein other than what he was allowed to get from the NCAA when he worked with us," Ornstein said, referring to the fact that Bush was an intern at Ornstein's marketing company in the summer of 2005. "I feel pretty damn good about that.''
Asked why his employee, Fritz, had paid for airfare and a limousine for the Bush family's trip to the Cal game, Ornstein said he believed the funds were paid back.
"Jamie may have paid or put it on his credit card," Ornstein said. "I don't think (Reggie's) parents have a credit card, but his parents paid for everything."
Fritz declined comment, but documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports indicate both the airfare and limousine rental for the trip to the Bay Area were paid in full on Fritz's American Express card prior to the trip being taken. Ornstein also used the card in August to book his own trip to Bush's NFL preseason debut against the Tennessee Titans (http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/ten/).
The card establishes a direct link between Bush's family and Ornstein's office while Bush was still at USC, but Ornstein insisted it was merely a matter of helping the family.
"If the dad asked, then maybe (Jamie helped)," he said. "The (family) went on other trips. I'm sure the father – if it was anything that needed a credit card to guarantee the hotel and everything – then I'm sure Jamie will have documentation and cash receipts from the father. I guarantee it."
Asked whether he was aware that such loans could constitute an NCAA violation, Ornstein replied: "I have no idea."
NCAA by-law 12.3.1.2 states that an athlete shall be deemed ineligible if he or she accepts benefits from agents or marketing representatives. The rule further states that student-athletes, their family or friends cannot receive benefits or loans from agents. Additionally, NCAA by-law 12.1.2.1.6 states that athletes cannot receive preferential treatment, benefits or services because of the individual's athletics reputation or skill or pay-back potential as a professional athlete, unless such treatment, benefits or services are specifically permitted under NCAA legislation.
The NCAA launched an investigation into Bush's eligibility in April after Yahoo! Sports reported that Bush's family had not paid rent after living for a year in a home owned by Michaels. A Pac-10 investigation followed.
If the NCAA rules that Bush received extra benefits during his playing career at USC, he could be ruled retroactively ineligible. Since some of the benefits date back to the 2004 season, the Trojans' national championship that season could be rescinded. USC could face further NCAA sanctions and Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy could be in jeopardy. The Heisman ballot indicates that an athlete must meet NCAA eligibility requirements to be considered for college football's most prestigious award.
Yahoo! Sports was denied a request last week to interview USC coach Pete Carroll, running backs coach Todd McNair and athletic director Mike Garrett.
The university instead released a statement though its counsel.
"USC cannot comment on any matter that is the subject of an ongoing NCAA and Pac-10 investigation," university counsel Kelly Bendell said. "USC continues to cooperate fully with the investigation."
Citing policy of not discussing ongoing investigations, NCAA officials declined to comment on the Bush matter.
Following the Trojans' loss to the University of Texas in the national championship game in January 2006, Bush turned professional. He hired Ornstein as his marketing agent, leaving a string of spurned would-be business representatives who claim Bush and his family owes them money. In April, Bush was drafted second overall by the Saints and he later signed a six-year contract guaranteeing him $26.3 million. Ornstein has since helped arrange marketing deals for Bush worth approximately $50 million.
The potential problem for USC goes beyond the trail of money to Bush. The Trojan program could be found by the NCAA to have failed to exert proper institutional control.
Sources told Yahoo! Sports that representatives of New Era were allowed into the USC locker room during the 2005 season. Ornstein and other agents frequented the USC sidelines during several games and numerous practices that season, according to published reports.
Also, McNair allegedly knew of Bush's involvement with the New Era venture before last season's national championship game against Texas, according to two sources. And at one point during the 2005 season, sources say Bush thought that Carroll knew about his parent's living arrangement and feared he was going to conduct his own investigation. Bush called Michaels, instructing that if Carroll called regarding the house to "tell him that you're a longtime family friend." Carroll never called Michaels.
In April, the Bush camp attempted to distance the running back from a direct relationship with Michaels.
"I know for a fact that everything is fine and this is all blown out of proportion and there's more to the story than is being told right now," Bush said April 27 at a predraft meeting with reporters in New York.
But when Bush stayed at the Venetian almost one year earlier, he signed for room charges that were paid for on Michaels' credit card. Another document related to that stay was filled out by Michaels, authorizing the hotel to charge Bush's stay to one of Michaels' credit cards. Yahoo! Sports obtained copies of both documents.
Earlier in March 2005, Bush stayed for two days at the Manchester Hyatt on the downtown San Diego waterfront, according to a document, a hotel front-desk employee and another source. Charges for the room were paid for on Michaels' credit card. The dates of the stay coincided with Bush attending a birthday party for former NFL and San Diego State star Marshall Faulk.
THE FAMILY ALLOWANCE
For Bush's family, the makeover, suits and limousine for the Heisman ceremony were a small part of the benefits they allegedly received.
DeMartino said that on the weekend of the Heisman ceremony in New York, three weeks before USC faced Texas in the BCS championship, Ornstein borrowed $500 from him to help make an "allowance" payment to Bush's family. DeMartino, who has known Ornstein for about 20 years, said he was at the family's hotel in New York to meet with them about a memorabilia proposal that he had submitted to Ornstein in November.
"We were standing around waiting for the family to show up," DeMartino said, recalling the Dec. 9 meeting. "Mike says to me, (Expletive), it's pay day.' He looked in his wallet, said he was a little short and asked me if he could borrow some money till the next day so he could give the family their money."
DeMartino said Ornstein explained to him that Bush's stepfather received a weekly payment of $1,000. Bush's mother received $500 and Bush's younger brother also received money.
"I'm not going to lie for the guy (Ornstein). You asked me a question, I'm going to tell you the truth," said DeMartino, who received payment after settling a financial dispute with Ornstein last week. The day after settling, DeMartino told Yahoo! Sports that he stood by his statements regarding his interaction with Ornstein in New York.
"That is a 100-percent lie," Ornstein said in a phone interview last week. "That never happened. I swear on my son, I swear on my mother, I swear on my brother. … I swear on my whole family. Let them all die tomorrow if I'm telling a lie."
Repeated attempts to reach LaMar and Denise Griffin by phone for comment were unsuccessful.
New Era's Lake, interviewed by Yahoo! Sports at the South Bay Detention Center in Chula Vista, Calif., on Aug. 27, said he was told by Bush that Ornstein was paying the running back.
Asked why DeMartino would say Ornstein was giving Bush and his family benefits, Ornstein said it was an act of vengeance after Ornstein didn't sign DeMartino as Bush's memorabilia agent. DeMartino claims he was the one who backed out of the deal, because Ornstein was asking for too much money. Asked how Bush's family was able to afford travel to USC road games last season and live in a 3,000-square-foot house belonging to a New Era Sports representative, Ornstein said he had "no idea."
"I'm not involved with that," Ornstein said. "I wasn't involved with the family at that point.
"If (Reggie's step) father did something wrong six months ago, eight months ago, that's not a story to me. … Did Michael Michaels do something like that with them? He may have, but Mr. Griffin is living in San Diego and Reggie is up in L.A., so how would he know?
"If you ask me, Mike Ornstein, I'd say 100-percent Reggie never took anything."
Ornstein said starting in November 2005, he advised the family on some issues and recommended agents but gave the family nothing of value until after signing Bush.
"And I haven't really given them anything since I signed Reggie," Ornstein said. "Reggie's been taking care of his family. On a couple of occasions, Reggie's (step)father borrowed money and he paid me back afterwards.''
Ornstein is the former director of club marketing for NFL Properties who in 1995 pled guilty to one count of mail fraud for his actions in an attempt to defraud the league. Ornstein was sentenced to five years probation, four months of home confinement and had to make $160,000 restitution to the league for the crime, according to published reports.
As a followup to their meeting in New York, DeMartino said that Ornstein solicited via email a $500,000 down payment for a prospective memorabilia deal. The email is dated Dec. 29, five days before Bush played in his last college football game and within two weeks of signing a contract to be represented by Ornstein.
Ornstein acknowledges that he negotiated in principle numerous marketing deals on behalf of Bush during the 2005 season. NCAA rule 12.3.1.2 reads in part "an individual shall be ineligible … if any person who represents any individual in the marketing of his or her athletic ability."
Ornstein contends that he operated within the NCAA rules, since no deal was finalized until after the season.
"All of that was based on only if I got as client," Ornstein told reporters at the NFL Draft in April. "It was only going to be if and when I signed him. No deal was ever consummated until Reggie signed with me after the season."
At the same time Bush's family was allegedly receiving money from Ornstein, they continued to take gifts and benefits from Michaels as well, according to two sources. Michaels bought them expensive dinners and took them on shopping trips, the sources said. And the family continued to live in Michaels' home, without paying rent, until April.
Bush asserted in April that he and his family did nothing improper after news of his parents' living arrangements surfaced on the eve of the NFL Draft.
"When this is all said and done, everybody will see at the end of the day that we've done nothing – absolutely nothing wrong," Bush said during an interview with ESPN on April 24.
Bush's family was eventually evicted from the home in Spring Valley after failing to pay approximately $54,000 agreed to in a lease with Michaels. A source said the family also promised to buy the home from Michaels at one point. It's now up for sale. When the family moved out, Michaels said they also took approximately $12,000 worth of furniture purchased by Michaels.
[B]GROUND TRANSPORTATION
Beyond the house and other payments, sources say New Era Sports paid for a pristine, black-on-black 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS for Bush. Although the car was almost 10 years old, the model is popular for a number of stylistic reasons. First off, the car, which features a small block, V-8 engine, is particularly fast. Second, it boasted a frame fitted for wide, speed-rated tires, which allows it to be detailed with large rims. Sources say that after Bush took control of the car early in 2005 it was decked out with such rims and an expensive stereo system was installed.
The car was allegedly purchased for Bush. Sources say it was bought in the Los Angeles area.

[jdsooner]

Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports is calling for USC to be stripped of the title and Bush to be stripped of the Heisman. I concur. OU should be awarded the title.


Take back the title
USC should forfeit the 2004 national crown after reports that Reggie Bush and his family appear to have accepted financial benefits from prospective agents.

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

LOS ANGELES – The would-be agents who provided the house, the money for the tricked-out car, the luxury hotel rooms and the tens of thousands in cash used to roll right into the Southern California locker room after the game, right past security, to meet and greet the triumphant Trojans.

The marketing agent who provided the cash allowance, the plane flights, the limo rides and the designer suits used to hang around Trojan practices, filed paperwork with the athletic department and walked the sidelines of the Los Angeles Coliseum like he was Pete Carroll himself.

It is no surprise that Reggie Bush and his family cashed in on his future earnings during his Heisman Trophy career at USC, as so many allege. Finding eager agents willing to pay for an edge on representing him was easy; they were all over the place at the loose ship known as Trojan Football.

At practice. At games. In the locker room. At the football program's Heritage Hall. Even with permission of the athletic department's compliance office.

And so Bush and his parents, starting in October 2004 according to an eight-month Yahoo! Sports investigation, took and took and took.

And now the NCAA needs to take something, too – Bush's retroactive eligibility and a season and a half of USC victories, setting in motion the BCS' removal of the Trojans' 2004 national championship and the Downtown Athletic Club's repossession of Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy.

Anything less, any bit of situational justice, would be a slap in the face of fair play and another in the NCAA's long history of double-standard enforcement.

Bush, by NCAA standards, was a professional athlete for most of his final two seasons, and USC either knew it or sure as heck should have. At the very least, operating an open-gate culture where athletes and agents were allowed to mix and mingle in the inner sanctums of the program was akin to playing with fire.

And in this case the Trojans got burned.

No one is saying Bush and USC were the only ones on the take. No one is saying the NCAA's amateurism rules are good ideas. Those are debates for another day.

But if the NCAA is going to ride the public relations campaign that its student-athletes are pure then it needs to enforce its rules purely.

Even – or especially – if it means stripping a Division I-A football team of its national title for the first time in history.

The double-barrel allegations of Bush and his family receiving NCAA-prohibited extra benefits from the fledgling New Era Sports & Entertainment agency in San Diego and Mike Ornstein, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based marketing agent who wound up representing Bush, rock USC to its core.

The New Era gifts push the timetable of violations into the Trojans' 2004 national championship season. The Ornstein benefits prevent plausible deniability by USC – a common and often effective defense to the NCAA.

First, there was the $757,500 house that New Era allowed Bush's family to use. When originally reported in April by Yahoo! Sports, Bush claimed he had no knowledge of the deals and no ties to New Era. But documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports – one showing Bush's signature on a March 2005 luxury hotel bill paid by the credit card of one of New Era's founders – tell a different story. That link puts USC's title in jeopardy.

Then there is Ornstein, one of dozens of agents, marketing men and other hanger-ons who were familiar faces around the program the past few years, who was welcome at Carroll's practices.

It's damning enough that two sources claim USC assistant Todd McNair knew of New Era's relationship with Bush, that Bush himself believed Carroll was going to investigate the situation and began covering it up and that New Era representatives were welcome in the Trojan locker room during the 2005 season.

With Ornstein it is worse. It's not just that Ornstein is a convict who in 1995 pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud for defrauding the NFL and that Ornstein, in possible violation of NCAA statutes, admits he negotiated contracts for Bush during the 2005 season or that the credit card of an Ornstein employee was used to pay for flights and limo rides to the San Francisco Ritz-Carlton for Bush's family during the weekend of the USC-Cal game.

It's that Ornstein didn't operate in the shadows to offer USC a convenient "How could we know?" excuse.

Ornstein was so up front he even worked with the USC compliance office in May of 2005 to set up a paid internship at his company for Bush and other Trojan players.

"We went through SC, went through the compliance office," Ornstein said. "We are allowed to pay the guy for 20 hours a week, $8 an hour. All of the paperwork is filed. It was just something we wanted to do to help Pete Carroll because they always are looking for summer jobs."

So a convicted marketing agent approached the USC compliance office, which is supposed to monitor potential violations, and offered to "help" Carroll by employing his mega-talented future first-round draft pick, and no one thought, gee, this might be not be a good idea?

Carroll, who spent 16 seasons as an NFL coach, surely not only knew Ornstein personally, but he also knew of Ornstein's reputation as a hard-driving sort who had defrauded the NFL. Ornstein is a heck of a marketing guy – Bush's multitude of deals proves that – but he is the kind of person that you don't dare ship your tailback off to and figure nothing bad can come of it.

To do so is inexplicable. That may be why USC refused to explain it to Yahoo! Sports, citing concurrent Pac-10 and NCAA investigations into the case.

"To be quite honest with you, when we took Reggie on we didn't have in our mind that we were going to try to get him as a client," Ornstein claimed.

Which is quite believable … if you are as stunningly naive as the Trojan athletic department.

While having a student-athlete intern for a sports marketing agency is not necessarily a violation of NCAA rules, this scenario is a violation of common sense.

It is no surprise that it led to Ornstein doling out payments of over $1,500 per week to Bush's family as well as numerous other gifts, as business associate Bob DeMartino said Ornstein told him. Or that Ornstein wound up making cash payments directly to Bush, as New Era's Lloyd Lake says Bush told him.

Ornstein vehemently denies these claims – "That never happened. It's (expletive)," he said – although he admits Bush's family "may have" taken extra benefits from New Era in 2004.

As for the luxury weekend in San Francisco for the Cal game, Ornstein said Bush's parents may have paid back his employee, Jamie Fritz, which, however unlikely, would still be a NCAA violation.

All in all, you have a textbook case of agents run amok in a program.

Whether USC's failure to monitor and protect its players was an example of nefarious activity or gross incompetence hardly matters. Neither does the school's recent moves to strengthen its oversight of players, a tacit admission of past errors.

The result is the same: Bush's amateur status was compromised beginning in October of 2004. Per NCAA rules, any game he played in after that could result in forfeiture. The Trojans' lack of institutional control played a part in this mess.

Moreover, it wasn't just Bush who benefited from the agent's largesse. So too did USC. Carroll has signed Rivals.com's No. 1 recruiting class in each of the past three seasons, and if you don't think having Bush walking campus flushed with cash while driving a decked-out car doesn't make an impression on would-be Trojans, then you don't know anything about recruiting.

Bush may be gone, but a lot of kids who wanted to be him – in every single way – have powered USC to No. 4 in the current AP poll.

USC, with its tradition, huge fan base and major media market, epitomizes the kind of big-time franchise the NCAA never wants to really take on.

The NCAA has stripped seven sports teams of its national titles, most recently the 2002 Hawaii men's volleyball team for using ineligible players who took far less than Reggie Bush did. But that's volleyball and that's Hawaii. Small potatoes compared to this.

The fear has always been that by vacating a national championship, the NCAA would be telling the American public that the season it just witnessed was a fraud. But the same thing applies when clear standards aren't held, when the kids who didn't take are played the fool.

Besides, what's right is right, what's fair is fair.

If the NCAA wants us to believe it stands for anything other than making money off these kids, if it wants us to think that that the rule book isn't just an empty public relations ploy, then it needs to drop the hammer here.

Forfeit the victories. Return the trophies. Vacate that title.

[soonerloyal]

Is Oklahoma the only major program that actually takes care of its transgressors & transgressions lately? Holy crap, you have Bush and Leinart breaking financial rules out the wazzoo, and nothing happens. And don't even get me started on Brown&Brownstains at txass. A fricken' loaded gun in the lap of a player when stopped by five-oh. Not to mention the dope ("It ain't ours, officer!") and tejas judges looking the other way because they get free tickets (There's nothing improper about that, "...although I suppose a reasonable person might look at it that way..."), and Mack and staff looking the other way at ridiculous behavior("You've just got to move on and forget about the bad issues and not look back.")...

Makes reasonable people wanna puke.

[VolinArizona]

Actually it would go to us

EDIT; errrrrrrr, I'm dumb

[SoonerDood]

Who wants a title not won (that's sugar coating it) on the field? I 've been trying to suppress my memory of that game and forget it ever happened, and getting a title for it out of this violation would make us the butt of jokes from now till the end of the universe
well they won with players who shouldn't have been on the field, so it evens out.

[sooneron]

Give the title to allbarn. I don't want it after the way we played.

[colleyvillesooner]

Meltdown (http://mb25.scout.com/fuscfansfrm1)

[sooneron]

I don't remember Bush having a particularly excellent game that night. Not that it matters, if he was this dirty, at least strip him of the Heisman and give it to Radio.

[sooneron]

Why can't those pansy ****s get real board software?? I refuse to look at that **** over there. It gives me a headache. IT's THE 21st Century people!!! I keep looking for Willie over there ignoring his own posts!!

[GrapevineSooner]

I normally don't indulge in Schadenfreude.

But I'll make an exception in the case of the condoms.

[GrapevineSooner]

Fight On for ol' SC
Our men Fight On to probation
Our Alma Mater dear,
paid Reggie Bush
Fight On and pay
For ol' SC
Fight On to probation
Fight On!

[Vaevictis]

Hah.

http://huskerfootballfan.com/images/Pending.jpg

[sooneron]

Hah.

http://huskerfootballfan.com/images/Pending.jpg
I would gladly contribute to that billboard if someone were to put it up in Watts.

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

hhahahahaha My Favorite one was when they called this a Midwest Media Conspiracy!!

[Ash]

I normally don't indulge in Schadenfreude.

But I'll make an exception in the case of the condoms.

Wow! That's some vocabulary you don't see on message boards everyday. Nice.

[colleyvillesooner]

I'll save everyone else the time:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Schadenfreude.&x=30&y=5

[sooneron]

I'm not getting my hopes up, until suc or reggie bu$h gets hammered, I will not get into Sigmundfreud.

[Octavian]

Suits for Bush's stepfather and brother to wear during the Dec. 10, 2005 Heisman ceremony in New York, a makeover for his mother for the event and limousine transportation

that shouldn't be a violation....I have no problem if someone helps a mom and dad look good at their son's Heisman ceremony on national tv.

The rest of it though (if true) should land USC in some serious trouble...our dumbass got peanuts compared to that.

And no way in hell should we get the '05 NC...neither should Auburn...leave it as an asterick so no one ever forgets USC's shame

[picasso]

that shouldn't be a violation....I have no problem if someone helps a mom and dad look good at their son's Heisman ceremony on national tv.

The rest of it though (if true) should land USC in some serious trouble...our dumbass got peanuts compared to that.

And no way in hell should we get the '05 NC...neither should Auburn...leave it as an asterick so no one ever forgets USC's shame
bullcrap. AD wore an old timey suit to the '04 ceremony.

[Octavian]

bullcrap. AD wore an old timey suit to the '04 ceremony.

tophat?

[tbl]

I cannot fathom that an OU fan would actually want a title out of that game. Auburn should get it, because I do believe USC should forfeit it. There's no WAY we should get it though.... no way.

Besides, due to my reprogramming, I'm only aware of us actually playing that game by your posts here. I have no recollection of it, and frankly I think you guys made it up. Last I remember was we beat Colorado and were Big 12 champs that year. For some reason, we didn't go to a bowl.... but it's all a blank.

[sooneron]

I seem to remember White throwing a strike to Wilson for a TD in the first Q, after that, I have no recollection for some reason.

[KingDavid]

Let whatever happens happen. It would be very awkward for the program to accept a MNC trophy after the fact . . . and certainly a HUGE distraction from the present year for the entire team . . . which is already having enough trouble paying attention to the snap count.

If this stuff about USC is true, it is sickening. But that NC will NEVER end up here, anyway. If the NCAA were to strip the title, it would be vacated from what I understand. No one would get it.

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

I do agree that is a stupid rule not to allow someone to buy them nice clothes. However....under ABSOLUTELY no circumstances is it allright for an agent to do. If say Merv Johnson or Bob Stoops wanted to buy say AD's parents some clothes, it is more justified because they are doing it for the athlete not so he will repay them when he turns pro.

[jwlynn64]

I think that all the players from our team that year and Auburns team should get together in a parking lot and play for the championship. Touch below the hips, the red hyundai is the endzone on the south side and the blue pontiac on the north side.

[tbl]

I'll take it!!!!!

[RiddlerOK]

it's funny how Yahoo! Sports cloaked this story as if it merited the same headline billing as war breaking out, etc. etc.

Made me laugh for a few minutes........

2 months later, this story will be history. The NCAA will find a way to distance themselves from it.

[Since71ASooner4Life]

I cannot fathom that an OU fan would actually want a title out of that game. Auburn should get it, because I do believe USC should forfeit it. There's no WAY we should get it though.... no way.

Besides, due to my reprogramming, I'm only aware of us actually playing that game by your posts here. I have no recollection of it, and frankly I think you guys made it up. Last I remember was we beat Colorado and were Big 12 champs that year. For some reason, we didn't go to a bowl.... but it's all a blank.


Amen!

[Rogue]

Shadenfreude all the way!

[TripleOption14]

You know how the ol sayin goes.... to little to late. Well this is... A lot to late! Where was this info. 2 years ago?

[Sooner-N-KS]

Here's an interesting question.

If every game that an ineligible player plays in causes those games to be forfeited, what happens to the status of the other players on the team?

Can an eligible player that plays games that are forfeited due to NCAA violations be eligible for the Heisman?

Leinart won the Heisman playing in what could be forfeited games, and he was heavily supported by an ineligible player. It could be argued that Leinart would not have won the Heisman if Bush wasn't on the team. That would leave AD with the most eligible Heisman votes for 2004.

[Sooner-N-KS]

You know how the ol sayin goes.... to little to late. Well this is... A lot to late! Where was this info. 2 years ago?

It would have helped us if we knew about Bomar a year ago. PT could have been QB last year. Think about how much better he would be right now if Bomar was kicked out last year, and think about the QB's we could have recruited over the winter.

[GrapevineSooner]

Concerning national titles...

You earn them by winning them on the field.

There is no other way to get them.

So if SC gets stripped of the title they won in '04, it should be vacated.

Period.

[Gandalf_The_Grey]

Everyone that counts knows that Bama won the title in 04 anyway

[Landthief 1972]

I wouldn't put it past Joe C. to fall all over himself to accept the NC trophy for that year, and get a painter on the stadium lickety-split to put a big '04 next to the '00.

Hopefully, Stoops will throat-punch him if Joe tries.

[BoomerSoonerTexasscks]

Does anybody else think that the way the NCAA handles this will give us some indication as to how or what type of sanctions OU will face for the ***** thing? I think that the timing of both of these things, happening so close, might hurt the programs more than if they had been a few years apart. I think the NCAA might come down harder on both programs to set an example for everyone else that this kind of thing won't be tolerated. Let's face it, it doesn't look good for college football as a whole to have two of the most high profile programs in trouble for the same infraction.

[ousoonerfan]

I don't think the NCAA would come down on OU as harshly as they would on USC for this. It's comparing apples and oranges. If it is true the USC knew what was going on, they're penalties should be much more severe than any penalties handed down to OU.

[BoomerSoonerTexasscks]

I don't think the NCAA would come down on OU as harshly as they would on USC for this. It's comparing apples and oranges. If it is true the USC knew what was going on, they're penalties should be much more severe than any penalties handed down to OU.

I agree, but I just think the timing of the infractions is going to hurt both programs

[ousoonerfan]

The NCAA has to consider how each program dealt with their problems. OU took a proactive approach and dismissed players. I honestly don't know what USC has done about their program, if anything.

[Texas Golfer]

I cannot fathom that an OU fan would actually want a title out of that game. Auburn should get it, because I do believe USC should forfeit it. There's no WAY we should get it though.... no way.

There's no way that Auburn should get it. If they were to strip USC of the title for that year (which I don't think they'll do), Auburn should not be rewarded for scheduling La-Monroe, La-Lafayette, and The Citadel.

They've just come to terms about why they didn't play in that game (by scheduling such weak non-conference opponents). If they were to be give the Crystal, you can expect them to do this every year only now, since they have four non-conference games, they'll schedule the Louisiana School for the Blind, too.

[boomrsoonr]

Bush's reply............




Bush: I know there's nothing to worry about

Associated Press
Posted: 1 hour ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) - New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush (http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=15&p=8&c=1&nid=1997216&refid=4345) and his family appear to have accepted gifts, money and other benefits worth more than $100,000 from two marketing agents while the Heisman Trophy winner was still playing at Southern California (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86095), according to a report posted Thursday on Yahoo.com.

After practice Friday, Bush responded to questions about the report much the same as he did when the allegations of improper benefits first were reported earlier this year.
"I'm not worried about any of these allegations or anything like that," he said. "Because I know what the truth is, like I said from day one. Once the smoke clears, everybody's going to see we did nothing wrong."
The report says Michael Michaels, a marketing agency investor who wanted to represent the football star, and current Bush marketing agent Mike Ornstein lavished Bush and his family with gifts while he was still at USC (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86095), each hoping to entice him to sign with them once he left school.
Bush eventually chose Ornstein, which caused a falling out between Michaels and Bush's family.
Speculation over whether Bush and his family received money arose earlier this year in reports that his mother and stepfather didn't pay $54,000 in rent during the year they lived in a house owned by Michaels, who later said the family promised to repay him once Bush went pro.
The NCAA prohibits student-athletes and their families from receiving extra benefits from agents or their representatives. Any improper benefits could lead to NCAA sanctions against USC (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86095) and retroactively cost Bush his college eligibility and Heisman Trophy.
"Obviously it does affect you just because it is out there," Bush said. "But at the same time I know there's nothing to worry about.
"It makes you want to go out there right away and tell your side of the story. Show everybody the facts, the truth. But you can't do that. That wouldn't be the right way to do it."
The report was based on an eight-month investigation by Yahoo Sports, citing documents and interviews with on-the-record sources close to the situation. It lists several instances in which Bush and his family appear to have received financial benefits, including:
- Suits for Bush's stepfather and brother to wear during the Dec. 10, 2005 Heisman ceremony in New York, a makeover for his mother for the event and limousine transportation - all paid for by Ornstein.
- Two hotel stays by Bush, one in Las Vegas and another in San Diego, during March 2005. In both instances, the rooms were paid for by Michaels.
- $13,000 from Michaels' fledgling firm, New Era Sports & Entertainment, to purchase and modify a car for Bush.
- $595.20 in round-trip airfare from San Diego to Oakland in November 2005 for Bush's stepfather, LaMar Griffin, his mother, Denise Griffin and younger brother to attend the USC (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86095)-California game at Berkeley. The charges were put on a credit card belonging to Jamie Fritz, one of Ornstein's employees.
Ornstein said he believes that when Fritz paid for airfare and a limousine for the Bush family's trip to the Cal (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86089) game, the money was eventually paid back. Asked whether he was aware that such loans could constitute an NCAA violation, Ornstein told Yahoo: "I have no idea."
A phone message left by The Associated Press for Bush's attorney, David Cornwell, and Ornstein were not immediately returned late Thursday.
Ornstein denied to Yahoo any wrongdoing on his and Bush's behalf.
"Reggie Bush never received an extra benefit from Mike Ornstein other than what he was allowed to get from the NCAA when he worked with us," Ornstein told Yahoo. He added Bush was an intern at his marketing company in the summer of 2005. "I feel pretty damn good about that."
The NCAA and Pac-10 are investigating whether any rules were broken when Bush's family lived in the home owned by Michaels. Cornwell also said earlier this summer that FBI agents interviewed him about "potential federal crimes" by phone in June. The FBI would neither confirm nor deny whether a federal investigation was under way.
The NFL players union also is investigating the rent payments.
In a statement released by USC (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86095) counsel Kelly Bendell, the school said it is cooperating with the probe but "cannot comment on any matter that is the subject of an ongoing NCAA and Pac-10 investigation."
Saints spokesman Greg Bensel told the AP the team would not comment on matters involving Bush when he was in college.
"It doesn't involve the Saints," he said. The allegations would have no effect on Bush's professional football career, a person within the NFL with knowledge of Bush's standing in the league told the AP. The source asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation. Bush was expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft, but the Houston (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86144) Texans bypassed him and took North Carolina State (http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/team/86044) defensive end Mario Williams (http://scout.scout.com/a.z?s=178&p=8&c=1&nid=2106572&refid=4345). Bush went to New Orleans with the second pick.

[OUGreg723]

What ever happened with Matt Leinart and Jarret having a very expensive condo or apartment in LA and not paying market price for it??

[Dio]

"I don't think (Reggie's) parents have a credit card, but his parents paid for everything out of the other money we were giving them."

fixed

[StoopTroup]

I think RB should have to give his NFL signing bonus to help fix the Superdome.

[daddywarbucks]

STICK IT TO BUSH!!

[Big Red Ron]

Wo, wo, back up...anyone else notice this little gem?


Ornstein told Yahoo. He added Bush was an intern at his marketing company in the summer of 2005. "I feel pretty damn good about that."

[Chuck Bao]

A college athlete serving as an intern at a sports agency business?

Sports agents in the locker room and on the sidelines?

That smells an awful lot like loss of institutional control.

If the NCAA doesn't come up with sanctions against USC, I'm pretty sure the whole "turn a blind eye and deny, deny, deny" will be pretty standard policy for all of the big programs.

It's like some of the USC fans are saying: "it doesn't matter if we are stripped of the title. We know and everyone else knows we won it on the field."

Somebody start a poll here. Would you rather OU play for and win a national title and have it stripped two years later due to extra benefits offered to some of the student athletes OR go 9-3, win the Cotton Bowl and know our university played fair?

[Octavian]

I do agree that is a stupid rule not to allow someone to buy them nice clothes. However....under ABSOLUTELY no circumstances is it allright for an agent to do. If say Merv Johnson or Bob Stoops wanted to buy say AD's parents some clothes, it is more justified because they are doing it for the athlete not so he will repay them when he turns pro.

good point.

Reggie really screwed up.

[Octavian]

A college athlete serving as an intern at a sports agency business?

Sports agents in the locker room and on the sidelines?

That smells an awful lot like loss of institutional control.

yes, yes it does....gee, what a shame




























:)

[Stitch Face]

I don't get the stripping of the title stuff. It's not like the team was 'roided-up by boosters or Bush's drove his Impala past the secondary. They still kicked some team's *** (I don't even remember who they played anymore) that day despite being crooks.

[GrapevineSooner]

I don't get the stripping of the title stuff. It's not like the team was 'roided-up by boosters or Bush's drove his Impala past the secondary. They still kicked some team's *** (I don't even remember who they played anymore) that day despite being crooks.

You probably also think SMU shouldn't have received the Death Penalty, right? ;)

[GottaHavePride]

1. The NCAA dosn't award college football titles. The AP, BCS, etc. do, and I'm betting they'll strip USC if the NCAA declares Bush ineligible for those games and credits USC with forfeits. However, I don't think they'll try to give it to someone else. USC wouldn't have been in that game, but the other teams with legit claims never met on the field. It'll just be vacant.

2. I'm also betting the Downtown Athletic Club will strip the Heisman from Bush if he's declared ineligible. In that case, I think they probably will retroactively award it to Vince Young. Same as when you strip an Olympic athlete's gold medal you award it to the silver medalist retroactively.

3. Reggie Bush doesn't give a **** because he's getting a gigantic NFL paycheck that the NCAA can't touch, and he seems like a "me first" kind of guy.

[Ash]

I think RB should have to give his NFL signing bonus to help fix the Superdome.

I think this is actually a great idea. Maybe throw some love toward the community in other ways as well.

[GottaHavePride]

I don't get the stripping of the title stuff. It's not like the team was 'roided-up by boosters or Bush's drove his Impala past the secondary. They still kicked some team's *** (I don't even remember who they played anymore) that day despite being crooks.

The other thing to consider is timeline. Depending on when those violations began, it may not even affect the 2004 season. In which case talk of stripping titles is meaningless. But for 2005, if RB is declared ineligible, then USC committed an infraction of sorts by allowing an ineligible player on the field, and will have to forfeit any games he played in.

[Sooner-N-KS]

The other thing to consider is timeline. Depending on when those violations began, it may not even affect the 2004 season.

The articles say that the evidence points to the infractions starting in October 2004.

[Octavian]

Stewart Mandel weighs in...


TAINTED LEGACY:
If Yahoo! report is true, Bush, USC, will pay hefty price

For three years, we watched with awe and appreciation as Reggie Bush electrified college football like few before him. We got to know, through countless interviews and press conferences, a seemingly humble, pleasant kid from San Diego whose introverted demeanor contrasted that of his Hollywood party-boy teammate, Matt Leinart. And we couldn't help but admire the way coach Pete Carroll built USC into a dominant program while maintaining a uniquely fun and relaxed atmosphere unparalleled among its counterparts.

All of it is now irreparably tainted.

The Yahoo! Sports report that Heisman Trophy winner Bush and his family accepted money and benefits worth more than $100,000 while he was still a player at USC is a stunning revelation that could lead to Bush being stripped of his Heisman, the Trojans' 2005 season being erased from the record books and the NCAA hitting the program with major sanctions.

What makes the Yahoo! article so damning is the extent of the documented evidence the Web site says it has obtained. For instance, in March 2005 Bush allegedly signed a $623.63 bill to the credit card of wannabe marketer Michael Michaels for a stay at the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. Michaels himself signed another document authorizing the hotel to accept the charges. Based on NCAA case history, this transgression alone would be enough to render Bush ineligible last season if NCAA investigators obtain the same documents.

But Yahoo! has much more. An employee of Bush's marketing representative, Mike Ornstein, allegedly paid for plane tickets and a limousine ride for Bush's family to a USC-Cal game. The Web site has a copy of the credit-card bill. Ornstein, either oblivious or defiant of NCAA bylaws, defended the arrangement as a "loan." That's illegal. So, too, was negotiating endorsement deals on Bush's behalf before he signed with Ornstein -- another of Ornstein's admissions.

And that's just the stuff that's been proven or admitted to. Other allegations in the article, attributed to various sources, include Michaels' short-lived company, New Era Sports, buying Bush a car and paying to deck it out; Ornstein giving regular cash payouts to Bush's parents and brother; and the family living rent-free in a posh San Diego house owned by Michaels (originally alleged last spring).

The NCAA and Pac-10 are investigating the alleged extra benefits Bush might have received. Both organizations will now be under significant pressure to corroborate Yahoo!'s allegations, particularly the ones involving documented examples of Bush jeopardizing his eligibility. While the NCAA cannot strip USC of any titles because it doesn't administer college football's postseason, it can levy any number of other sanctions, such as a bowl ban and scholarship reductions.

When Yahoo!'s original report about Bush's family and Michaels' house was published last April, it was easy for Trojans coach Pete Carroll to downplay the connection to his former star. "Think back to when you were in school," Carroll told the Los Angeles Times last spring. "Did you know how your parents paid the mortgage?" Only the most blindly loyal USC fan, however, could read this most recent report and still consider the Saints rookie to have been an innocent bystander.

And while Carroll has insisted on numerous occasions that he and his staff educate their players as best they can about the various rules regarding agents, according to Yahoo!, New Era representatives were allowed to visit the Trojans' locker room and Ornstein and other agents watched games from the sideline. While it's impossible to police all contact between players and agents, it's sure possible to police your own locker room and sideline. If investigators find proof that coaches or staff members at USC failed to exercise "institutional control" in these areas, it would significantly increase the possibility of repercussions against the school.

Bush is a dazzling talent and as dangerous a playmaker as we've seen. At USC he was known for staying after practice to sign autographs for children. Since arriving in New Orleans, he has engaged in multiple philanthropic ventures in support of his new town, still reeling from Hurricane Katrina.

Now his reputation is taking a serious blow. On one hand, it appears that Bush and his family were manipulated by some insidious people. Ornstein, his marketing rep, was once convicted of trying to defraud the NFL. But Bush is a bright kid. He had to know exactly what he was doing when he signed that hotel bill. Surely he knew how his family was able to ride in a limo.

Both of those things are against NCAA rules. And if the allegations are true, Bush and USC will pay dearly for it.


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/stewart_mandel/09/15/bush.react/index.html

[daddywarbucks]

The whole deal makes me sick...What makes a guy think hes above everyone else like that?

[jwlynn64]

No matter what Bush does in the NFL, I'll always consider him the biggest A-hole to ever come out of College sports.

I'll never forget his behavior after the near loss to Notre Dame. During the after game interview all he could do was talk about how great they were. They knew they weren't going to lose. Not one time did he give Notre Dame credit or acknowlege that they only won the game because Matt happened to fumble the ball out of bounds the play before stopping the clock with 2 seconds left.

Anyone that doesn't acknowlegde their opponents good play or their own fortunate luck is just a asshat through and through.

Sorry to be Bush bashing but this guy gets to me like no one else.

[lil'duck]

okay, so I only read parts of this thread, but what I get from it makes me ill. USC went through major recruiting violations some years ago - which is why they disappeared from the scene. Now here they are again, back to the same old stuff.

The Pac-10 is so tired of all the USC hype. So many teams in the Pac play by the rules and work so hard (ASU for ex) and it's no wonder USC gets the fame....makes it pretty easy when players get the sun and moon as college students.

sorry for the rant. don't like USC.