New search warrants released in UNC sports agent investigation
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (WTVD) -- New search warrants released Friday show how Georgia-based sports agent Terry Watson allegedly funneled money and gifts to UNC football players in an attempt to get them to sign with him.
Click here to read the warrants (.pdf)
North Carolina law requires agents to register with the Secretary of State's office and prohibits offering gifts to entice athletes to sign representation contracts.
Watson was charged last year with 13 counts of athlete-agent inducement and one count of obstruction of justice. Athlete-agent inducement is a Class I felony that carries a maximum sentence of 15 months in prison. Violations could also carry civil penalties of up to $25,000.
Investigators with the North Carolina Secretary of State's allege Watson contacted former UNC football players before he was officially registered as an agent in North Carolina back in 2010 - giving them gifts and providing hotel rooms for them in Miami, Florida.
Search warrants allege he funneled $18,200 to former UNC player Greg Little in payments ranging from $5,000 to $2,200 and gave player Marvin Austin gifts in addition to $2,000 in cash.
The warrants show Watson's associates sent the cash in FedEx packages and names some of the people allegedly involved.
In all, investigators allege Watson contacted at least 5 players nearly 400 times. Thirty nine of those contacts are considered illegal.
Austin and Little were kicked off the UNC football team after an NCAA investigation found they had accepted thousands of dollars in trips and gifts from agents.
Due to football program investigations, 13 players sat out the 2010 season opener against LSU, with six players sitting out the entire season. Three of those were either dismissed from the team or declared "permanently ineligible" by the NCAA.
