MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A federal jury convicted millionaire businessman Logan Young on Wednesday of paying $150,000 to get a top football recruit for Alabama.
The jury deliberated for about 5½ hours before returning the verdict.
Young, 64, was convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering (by breaking state bribery laws), crossing state lines to commit racketeering and arranging bank withdrawals to cover up a crime.
Young could receive prison time and a large fine. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, but federal guidelines would call for a much lighter sentence.
The highly publicized recruitment case coincidentally ended up in jurors' hands on college football's National Signing Day.
Defense attorneys used closing arguments to highlight the chief accuser's history of lying and the legal standard for "reasonable doubt."
But prosecutors said bank and phone records bolstered the testimony of their lead witness, former Trezevant High School head coach Lynn Lang.
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| Logan Young might be going to prison after being convicted of three charges. (AP) |
Lang told jurors he received money from two other colleges, Georgia and Kentucky, and offers of cash, jobs or free law school from Arkansas, Memphis, Mississippi, Michigan State and Tennessee.
Former coaches Rip Scherer of Memphis and Jim Donnan of Georgia, and former Alabama assistant Ivy Williams testified for the defense that Lang was lying.
Lang has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the case and is cooperating with prosecutors as he awaits sentencing.
Defense lawyer James Neal told the jury that Lang lied about Means' recruitment to the NCAA, Memphis school officials and others before testifying against Young.
Lead prosecutor Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Godwin introduced telephone records from June 2000 to February 2001 showing 49 calls between phones belonging to Lang and Young.
