Jury selected for second basketball bribery trial

Christian Dawkins and Merl Code Jr.

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury was selected Monday to hear evidence in the trial of an aspiring agent and a former amateur coach charged with bribing big-school coaches to boost their business prospects with amateur basketball players.

Opening statements by lawyers were scheduled to occur Tuesday morning in Manhattan federal court in the trial of business manager Christian Dawkins and ex-amateur league director Merl Code.

The trial is the second of three resulting from arrests made 19 months ago, when prosecutors described a widespread bribery scheme in which financial advisers and business managers allegedly paid assistant coaches and athletes’ families to steer players to big-program schools.

Testimony in a trial projected to last two weeks is expected to center on bribes paid to an assistant coach at the University of South Carolina and later Oklahoma State University, an assistant coach at the University of Arizona and an assistant coach at the University of Southern California.