Shalala urges NCAA to end UM investigation

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MIAMI, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- University of Miami President Donna Shalala says an NCAA investigation has "wronged" the school and is calling for a quick resolution with no further penalties.

The NCAA has admitted its own "improper conduct" has tainted about 20 percent of the evidence gathered in the case against UM, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday.

In a statement Monday night, Shalala said, "we have been wronged in this investigation, and we believe that this process must come to a swift resolution, which includes no additional punitive measures beyond those already self-imposed."

A 52-page report on an investigation by an outside firm found, among other things, the NCAAA paid $18,000 to the lawyer of now-imprisoned former UM booster Nevin Shapiro, and paid another $8,200 for communications with Shapiro from jail and transferred $4,500 to his prison commissary account.

Shapiro is serving a 20-year sentence for a $930 million Ponzi scheme. He has told NCAA investigators he provided more than 100 mostly former UM athletes with improper benefits between 2002 and 2010.

Despite the admitted wrongdoing by the NCAA, the organization's president, Mark Emmert, said Monday UM would soon received a formal Notice of Allegations so the case can move forward.

He said any earlier allegations based on the tainted evidence would be removed from the complaint.