How Duke forward Wendell Carter’s name emerged in FBI college basketball investigation

Duke freshman forward Wendell Carter Jr.’s name has emerged in documents obtained by the FBI as part of its investigation into college basketball, according to a Yahoo! report published Friday.

Carter is among a number of players listed as allegedly having had a meal or a meeting with Christian Dawkins, an ASM sports agent and one of 10 people arrested in September as part of the FBI’s investigation into bribes used to steer high school basketball players to certain schools.

A photo of Dawkins’ expense report published with the Yahoo! report shows he had lunch with Carter’s mom at Longhorn in February 2016, when Carter was a junior in high school. It’s unclear from the expense report whether or not Carter’s mom, Kylia Carter, paid for her own meal or Dawkins did. The meal on the expense report was $106.36.

If Dawkins paid for a meal for Carter or anyone in his family, it could be declared an impermissible benefit by the NCAA, and could potentially affect Carter’s eligibility and the Duke basketball program.

Duke athletic director Kevin White on Friday afternoon said in a statement that the school has found no NCAA eligibility concerns pertaining to Carter.

“A Duke student-athlete was identified in a Yahoo! Sports report this morning about men’s college basketball. Duke immediately reviewed the matter and, based on the available information, determined there are no eligibility issues related to today’s report,” White said in the statement. “Duke has already contacted the NCAA and will continue to work collaboratively with the NCAA and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Duke has an uncompromising commitment to compliance in athletics. That has not, and will not, change.”

According to NCAA Bylaw 16.01.1.1 for Division I schools, if the value of the benefit is $100 or less, “the eligibility of the student-athlete shall not be affected conditioned upon the student-athlete repaying the value of the benefit to a charity of his or her choice. The student-athlete, however, shall remain ineligible from the time the institution has knowledge of receipt of the impermissible benefit until the student-athlete repays the benefit.”

Efforts to reach Kylia Carter and Wendell Carter’s father, Wendell Carter Sr., were also unsuccessful.

On Feb. 18, after Duke’s win over Clemson, Blue Devils’ coach Mike Krzyzewski had little to say about a Feb. 15 Yahoo! report that said hall-of-fame coaches and half of the teams in the NCAA tournament’s initial top-16 seeding “should be scared” about the FBI’s next move in the federal probe into college basketball.

“I’ve been so in a tunnel, in a cave with my own team, I’m not up to date on it,” Krzyzewski said at the time. “So I apologize.”

Carter has been one of Duke’s best players this season. He has played in all 28 of Duke’s games this season. He is averaging 14.5 points per game, 9.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.

There were nine other players, including former UNC forward Tony Bradley, were listed in the Yahoo! report as having had a meal or meeting with Dawkins.

Other players named in Yahoo’s report, including former N.C. State guard Dennis Smith Jr., are alleged to have received thousands of dollars in payments and loans from ASM. N.C. State athletic director Debbie Yow on Friday said the school in Sept. 2012 had sent a disassociation letter to ASM sports agent Andy Miller after it was found that Miller was being dishonest about his business relationship with Desmond Eastmond, an AAU coach.

Federal documents released in September allege that Dawkins and others paid recruits money to steer athletes to certain adidas-sponsored schools.

Duke is a Nike school.

This story was originally published February 23, 2018 at 10:31 AM with the headline "How Duke forward Wendell Carter’s name emerged in FBI college basketball investigation."