Unsealed documents reveal improper benefits received by UNC players
Court documents unsealed in North Carolina show the various improper benefits given to Tar Heels football players that led to the program’s 2012 NCAA sanctions.
According to the Associated Press, the documents were unsealed in the case involving Christopher Hawkins, a former UNC and Marshall cornerback who was arrested in May and charged with violating North Carolina’s state sports agent law. Hawkins allegedly gave former UNC defensive end Robert Quinn $13,700 in cash and helped him sell game-used equipment for $1,700. Hawkins also allegedly improperly contacted another UNC player about potential representation.
According to the newly unsealed court documents, Hawkins acted as “an agent/runner” to provide illegal benefits to other athletes as well.
From the AP:
According to five search warrants unsealed Friday and reviewed by The Associated Press, Hawkins acted as "an agent/runner" by befriending other athletes, providing illegal improper benefits and brokering meetings with agents and advisers despite not being registered as required by law.
The search warrants from the past year sought records for financial and online accounts for the former UNC and Marshall player in a 5-year-old Secretary of State's investigation, which began amid a 2010 NCAA probe into UNC's football program. Hawkins was barred from school athletes and facilities that year and is one of five charged.
Fourteen Tar Heels missed at least one game in 2010 and seven were forced to sit all season in a case that led to NCAA sanctions in March 2012.
Among the extra benefits revealed in the documents, defensive back Kendric Burney told investigators that he received “monthly payments” from Hawkins while an eligible athlete at UNC.
From the AP:
Burney, who missed six games in 2010 for improper benefits from Hawkins connected to trips, said Hawkins paid him and other players for agent meetings, the documents state.
Burney said Hawkins arranged and attended his meetings with financial adviser Marty Blazer and agent Peter Schaffer — two people who exchanged hundreds of calls with Hawkins, according to phone records cited in the warrants.
Burney told the AP that Schaffer, now his agent, was “always by the book” and did not provide him any improper benefits.
Schaffer reiterated Burney’s sentiment to the AP.
Schaffer told the AP he didn't provide improper benefits to any UNC players. He said Hawkins spoke to him about Burney but most communication would've been about ex-UNC and NFL running back Willie Parker, a client who called Hawkins his "manager."
“Come out to my office, you can look through my bank records and you will not see one check wired, cash, anything to Marty Blazer, to Chris Hawkins, to Kendric Burney, to anybody," Schaffer said. "Because it doesn't happen.”
Burney told investigators that Parker would invite athletes to the house he shared with Parker and there would be “envelopes with their names on them lined up on a table.”
Additionally, Quinn, now with the St. Louis Rams, and wide receiver Greg Little, an NFL free agent, said they received payments from Blazer.
In February 2013, Quinn told investigators Hawkins provided $13,700 to steer him to Schaffer and Blazer, and called Schaffer "his guy," the documents state. Quinn said Blazer wired him money under the name of a teammate's girlfriend to avoid detection.
That May, Quinn's ex-girlfriend — identified as an athlete whose name matches a former UNC softball player — told investigators Quinn received transfers through her account and said Hawkins was giving him money, the documents state.
Little also told investigators in 2013 he had received payments from Blazer through the account of former teammate and NFL receiver Hakeem Nicks, a client of both Blazer and Schaffer, according to the documents.
Quinn and Little did not play for the Tar Heels in 2010 and the NCAA declared both permanently ineligible.
For more North Carolina news, visit TarHeelIllustrated.com.
- - - - - - -
Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
