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NCAA Enforcement Head Approved Attorney Payment

Dennis Dodd of CBSSports is reporting that Julie Roe Lach, the vice president of enforcement at the NCAA, approved payments to Maria Elena Perez, the attorney which the NCAA used to sit in on depositions in Nevin Shaprio’s bankruptcy case:

Roe Lach approved “a budget line” for Elena Perez that would pay for “legal fees and expenses,” according to the sources. The attorney has received some money from the NCAA for her services. Another source characterized the Roe Lach strategy in using Elena Perez as an attempt “to crack this case wide open.”

Given the earlier ESPN report that both Roe Lach and general counsel Donald Remy approved the payments and the NCAA refuting only that Remy was involved, this is makes sense. The NCAA more or less admitted as much by not going to bat for Roe Lach last month.

It is also not surprising given the dissenting opinion of an unnamed NCAA investigator. Those comments made it sound like this was an accepted practice in the enforcement staff, which it would especially if the head of the enforcement staff saw it as a way to “break the case wide open” and approved the tactic.


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