NCAA conducts probe of own investigators

• Tweet

INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The NCAA is conducting an internal probe of its own enforcement staff's actions while investigating Miami-Florida, President Mark Emmert said Wednesday.

Emmert said he's hired former White House Homeland Security Adviser Kenneth Wainstein to look into alleged "improper conduct" on the part of NCAA staffers who have been probing the Hurricanes football and basketball programs for 22 months, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

The NCAA chief said the concerns center on how staffers obtained testimony about alleged improper benefits given to athletes by one-time Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for operating a high-stakes Ponzi scheme.

NCAA enforcement staffers allegedly worked alongside an attorney for Shapiro during his bankruptcy proceedings, which if true would would mean they had obtained testimony that otherwise would require a subpoena to garner, the newspaper said.

"That is obviously improper conduct completely contrary to our policies and procedures," Emmert told reporters. "It's something for me, and for everyone, [that] is deeply disturbing."

Emmert said the internal probe would take two weeks to complete.

The investigation will delay the release of the long-anticipated notice of allegations in the Hurricanes case, he said.