Like an infected boil that just won’t go away, former Wolfpack player Erik Leak just won’t leave NC State athletes alone. Despite being sent a dissociation letter from the University, Leak and his associates have apparently contacted former athletes, and according to federal investigators, may have fraudulently shifted federal funds around in his businesses and then to a former Wolfpack player.
Leak is being investigated by the IRS for Medicaid billing irregularities for a scheme where he allegedly transferred Medicaid funds from one of he and his wife’s businesses to Leak’s sports agent business, and then to former Wolfpack athlete CJ Leslie.
Leslie’s connection to Leak surfaced again in the federal seizure warrant, which details the purchase of a Porsche in the days after Leslie decided to go pro.
According to the warrant, Leslie put down a $10,000 payment on a $137,000 Porsche. Less than two weeks later, Nature’s Reflections paid the balance for that sports car. That Porsche is now among three cars federal authorities want as part of the investigation.
Note that this is after CJ Leslie decided to turn professional — it does not seem that other than both being former NC State athletes, the University and its sports programs are not implicated.
Leak’s reach also included former Wolfpack football player David Amerson:
Leak claimed that his company did not act as an agent to athletes, but many of his Hot Shots clients were represented by the same agent, J.T. Johnson. Johnson had no clients who were not also Hot Shots clients.
Johnson was a registered agent with the state of North Carolina when he signed former Wolfpack football star David Amerson, now a cornerback with the Washington Redskins, but he did not renew his agent registration last year.
By the time Eric Leak made contact with then-N.C. State player Amerson in June 2011, he was already persona non grata with the athletic department.
Initial Analysis
It is important to note before sports media partisans and message board lunatics try to make the connection, the University, the athletics department and coaches are not being implicated, and in fact, the school had already taken legal steps to distance itself from Leak as much as possible before any of these alleged events occurred.
According to the report, Leak disregarded the disassociation letter and found a way to former State players anyway, and has once again dragged the university into a mess that he has allegedly made. While NC State officials have not outlined any further steps to prevent Leak from accessing Wolfpack sports and its players, it’s probably safe to say that University lawyers are preparing them and that soon those steps may well be announced.
Another important note is that any monies that were allegedly loaned to CJ Leslie were remitted after he had declared he was leaving the basketball team in search of a professional career. The same can be said for David Amerson — that he was no longer a member of State’s football team and that he too was in between playing in college and starting his professional career. Neither Amerson or Leslie had eligibility concerns since they were not returning, and that they didn’t receive benefits they shouldn’t have as active college athletes.
It is very important to make the distinction that no coaches nor the school was involved. The only reason that NC State is being mentioned at all is because Leak, Leslie and Amerson played for NC State. Whatever they cooked up was between them, after their eligbility and against the wishes of the school and its athletics department.
