Miami Hurricanes Booster Bought Players Jewelry and Abortions?
1 year ago
Nevin Shapiro feels betrayed by ex-players, so he's snitching.
Yesterday, the website released their findings from an 11-month investigation on Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro, who is now imprisoned for running a Ponzi scheme. Shapiro says that from 2002 until last year he violated NCAA rules and gave as many as 72 Miami Hurricanes football and basketball players expensive gifts, lavish travel accommodations, money, and nice restaurant benefits. He also admitted to paying a stripper to have an abortion when she got pregnant from having sex with a player. Oh yeah, Shapiro just so happened to pay that stripper to have sex with the player in the first place. He never told the player, though.
“I was doing him a favor,” he said. “That idiot might have wanted to keep [the baby].”
Shapiro, who at points donated $50,000 checks to the school, also says that a number of coaches knew about his rule breaking but did nothing to stop him.
The former booster is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for securities fraud. But the jailbird swears he isn’t singing to get time removed. His Ponzi scheming and illegal gift-giving have nothing to do with each other, he says. He insists that he just wants to tell the truth now.
But the reality is that Shapiro is a scorned lover who is spilling the beans because he feels betrayed by former Hurricanes he helped -- players who are now NFL millionaires -- who didn’t return his phone calls or letters when he reached out to them seeking financial assistance for bail money and other emergencies.
“Some of those players – a lot of those players – we used to say we were a family,” he said. “Well, who do you go to for help when you need it? You go to your family. Why the hell wouldn’t I go to them?”
Shapiro is also drawing ire from rapper, entrepreneur, and recent Miami mayor candidate Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell. Campbell made headlines in the late 80s and early 90s for doing much of the same for players back then and was soon banned from having contact with the program. Shapiro saw similarities in their plights and dubbed himself “Little Luke.” Campbell took offense.
In a blog column he wrote for the Miami New Times titled “Nevin Shapiro Can Kiss My Ass,” Campbell said “that punk could never be me.”
“If Nevin really wanted people to see him as 'Little Luke,' then he would have dedicated part of his life to helping kids in Miami's inner-city neighborhoods get a college education,” he said. “He certainly never started a youth athletic program that has been around for more than 30 years helping underprivileged parents in Liberty City mold their children.”
Hurricanes head football coach Al Golden says that he’s never heard of Shapiro or his wrongdoings, but promises that he, his staff, and the school are “working through” the situation.
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