Auburn rules Wiley, Purifoy ineligible for exhibition amid investigation

The Auburn University athletic department will hold out sophomores Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy for Auburn's exhibition game against Barry on Thursday, Nov. 2., the University announced Thursday morning in a statement.

“To avoid any potential eligibility issues, Auburn Athletics has decided to hold men’s basketball players Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy out indefinitely. Because this is related to an ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further at this time.”

A month ago, Auburn associate head coach Chuck Person was suspended without pay after federal prosecutors announced that he is being charged in a wide-ranging corruption and bribery investigation surrounding four top-tier NCAA basketball coaches.

Person is facing bribery, fraud and corruption charges as part of the federal criminal probe into a wide-ranging scheme across NCAA basketball that involved top coaches funneling athletes to agents and financial advisers, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

More than ten people, including coaches, managers, financial advisers and representatives of a major sportswear company, are facing similar charges, including coaches at Southern California, Oklahoma and Arizona.

Person and others involved were arrested with the help of law enforcement across the country.

The bribes were in exchange for the coaches to influence student-athletes to retain services of bribe-payers once the athletes entered the NBA, according to the charging documents.

The charging documents allege that Person and bespoke suit maker Rashan Michel, founder of the Atlanta-based company Thompson Bespoke Clothing, conspired as part of the scheme.

Person "abused his coaching position at (Auburn) to solicit and obtain bribe payments" from a financial adviser in exchange for Person agreeing to direct student-athletes to retain the services of the financial adviser and Michel when they went into the NBA, the documents read.

Over a 10-month period, the financial adviser paid more than $91,000 in bribes to Person as part of his agreement to use his coaching influence over high-profile student-athletes at Auburn who had the potential to get recruited by the NBA.

About $18,500 of the money he received was sent to the two student-athletes he steered to the financial adviser.

Person, according to the documents, told one player, "don't share this with your sisters, don't share this with any of the teammates, that's very important cause this is a violation ... but this is how the NBA players get it done."