In June of 2017, former Arizona Wildcats assistant Emmanuel "Book" Richardson was caught on wiretaps explaining how men's head basketball coach Sean Miller had agreed to pay several players, including superstar center Deandre Ayton.
According to a report by ESPN's Mark Schlabach and Jeff Borzello, federal prosecutors played a recording to the jury on Wednesday, in which Book could be heard telling aspiring agent Christian Dawkins that Miller paid Ayton $10,000 a month during his time with the Wildcats.
Per ESPN:
Richardson: "Sean's got to get the (expletive) out the way and let us work."
Dawkins: 'We'll see how Sean plays it out."
Richardson: "You know what he bought per month?"
Dawkins: "What he do?"
Richardson: "I told you—10."
Dawkins: "He's putting up some real money for them (expletive). He told me he's getting killed."
ESPN reported in February 2018 that FBI wiretaps also intercepted a call between Dawkins and Miller, in which Miller discussed a $100,000 payment that secured Ayton's commitment to the Wildcats. The coach vehemently denied the report and says he never paid any players to attend Arizona.
Dawkins, who has been charged with bribing college coaches, reportedly teamed with Richardson in an effort to get future pros to sign with his agency. Richardson allegedly received money from Dawkins to convince players such as Ayton, Allonzo Trier and Rawle Alkins to work with Dawkins once they were drafted.
According to ESPN's report: "Munish Sood, a business partner of Dawkins, pleaded guilty to three felony counts related to the case and testified that Richardson accepted a $5,000 bribe during an initial meeting in New York on June 20, 2017" in exchange for guiding Ayton, Trier and Alkis to Dawkins agency.