A U.S. federal court jury found all three defendants in a college corruption scandal guilty of conspiring to pay promising basketball players and their families to have them attend colleges sponsored by Adidas. They are scheduled to be formally sentenced next March 5 in the case, which has been amply discussed in the American edition of SGI, aptly describing it at as “Hoopgate.” One of the defendants is James Gatto, former basketball sports marketing manager of Adidas in the U.S., whose attorney said he will appeal. He claimed that other sports brands have been doing the same thing, leading to bidding wars for the best talents. The two others are a former Adidas consultant, Merl Code, and a former sports agent, Christian Dawkins. A former NBA star and other coaches were also charged in the wide-ranging federal investigation around the NCAA, but they pleaded not guilty. Two of them have been working for universities in Arizona and Oklahoma, which are sponsored by Nike. After Gatto's conviction, Adidas announced that it will contribute $1 million over a 10-year period to fund a program on ethical leadership in college athletics at the University of Louisville.

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