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More dark clouds on Stern's house.
Please
The Ticket just reported that Donaghy made 137 phone calls to Foster during his gambling timeline.
If this is true, things are going to get pretty interesting.
More dark clouds on Stern's house.
Please
EXCLUSIVE: NEW YORK — NBA referee Tim Donaghy made repeated phone calls to a second referee at the same time he provided inside information to professional gamblers during the course of the 2006-2007 season, according to court do ents and phone records obtained by FOXNews.com.
The records show Donaghy placed 134 calls to referee Scott Foster — more than the 126 calls Donaghy made to his bookie — between October 2006 and April 2007, the period during which he has confessed to either betting on games or passing on game information to gamblers. The majority of the phone calls lasted no more than two minutes and occurred prior to and after games Donaghy officiated and on which he admits wagering.
With the exception of 150 calls Donaghy placed to Thomas Martino, to whom he says he provided “picks” to win games and who was the middleman between the disgraced referee and a bookie named James Battista, the ex-ref phoned no one more than he called Foster. During this period, the most calls Donaghy made to any other referee were 13.
It’s unclear what information was exchanged during the calls between Foster and Donaghy, who is awaiting sentencing later this month in federal court after reaching a plea deal in the case. Federal prosecutors in the case declined to comment on this report. But former federal prosecutors not involved in the investigation say the frequency and duration of the calls, as well as the days they took place, are su ious.
The new information may call into question insistent claims by NBA Commissioner David Stern that Donaghy was a “rogue, isolated criminal” acting on his own, without the cooperation of any other referees or league officials.
Donaghy has countercharged that the NBA is rife with corruption, and has even accused some league executives of game-fixing during the playoffs. Stern has not wavered, dismissing the claims and calling Donaghy a “singing, cooperating witness” seeking a shorter prison term.
The conversations with Foster and others have led authorities to suspect the NBA betting scandal goes beyond Donaghy, sources close to the investigation told FOXNews.com.
Law enforcement sources close to the case say the FBI has investigated anyone who showed up in Donaghy’s phone records. In a statement Friday, Tim Frank, NBA Vice President of Basketball Communications, said, 'Lawrence Pedowitz's independent review is ongoing." (Pedowitz, a former Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, was named by Stern last year to head the league's investigation.) The NBA says it is not aware of any further criminal investigation ongoing in the case.
Calls between Foster, 41, and Donaghy, also 41, took place immediately before and after 54 of the 57 games Donaghy officiated from the beginning of the 2006-2007 season until mid-March, when his role in the gambling operation apparently ended. Records also show a vast majority of the calls came in the hours before or after games officiated by Donaghy or Foster.
Donaghy’s phone records for one of those days, Dec. 30, obtained by Fox News, reveal the following:
— 10:34 a.m. – Donaghy calls Foster.
— 10:35 a.m. – Donaghy calls another referee.
— 10:36 a.m. – Donaghy calls Martino, the “middleman” between him and his bookie.
— 10:39 a.m. – Donaghy calls Foster.
— 5:15 p.m. – Donaghy calls Martino.
— 5:23 p.m. – Donaghy calls Martino.
— 7 p.m. – Donaghy referees game between the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic. The Magic win in a rout, 97-68.
— 8 p.m. – Foster referees a game between the Toronto Raptors and the Memphis Grizzlies in Memphis. The Grizzlies win 110-104. Foster and Donaghy speak 12 minutes after the game.
— 11:27 p.m. – Foster and Donaghy speak for at least the fourth time of the day.
— 11:38 p.m. – Foster and Donaghy speak for at least the fifth time of the day.
The following day, Donaghy spoke with Foster at 1:37 p.m., for two minutes. One minute later, at 1:40 p.m., Donaghy spoke to Martino, also for two minutes.
On a number of other days:
— Donaghy placed three calls to Foster before Donaghy refereed the Jan. 19, 2007, game between the New Orleans Hornets and the San Antonio Spurs. The next day, he called Foster three more times.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,381842,00.html
Jordan pushing off was not a foul because Jordan was a superstar. Once you allow for gray areas corruption easily follows.
Particularly interesting given Foster's sudden ascendancy this season -- a suprising nod to call Game 7 of Spurs/Hornets and then 2 games in the NBA Finals. I've generally thought Foster was a good young official, so the su ion is surprising to me.
I will say that implicating another official, no matter who it might be, in this thing (and it would appear from the call log that others might be involved as well) might actually be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It's one thing to say that it was just one rogue official who acted on his own and kept his activities secret from the rest of the fraternity. It's something else if he's making calls to other officials to get information or whatever and is consistently getting that information upon request. If it comes out that other officials were gambling on games with Donaghy as an intermediary to a bookie, the thing comes apart at the seams. If it's Donaghy calling other officials to coax information out of them, there's a terrible problem with oversight and recognition. If it's Donaghy calling Foster and others because they're friends, it's kind of a non-story.
maybe if they were lovers you would call someone that often.
Stern Must Go!!!
I agree that it's su ious. It's also su ious that the calls were made on a phone that Donaghy reportedly used almost exclusively for gambling. And it's su ious that Donaghy was talking to Foster and to his bookie in such close proximity to each other. Finally, I think it's odd that the calls stopped right around the time that Donaghy is believed to stopped gambling on games. That would certainly create some reasonable su ions about what was going on and the extent to which Foster is something more than an innocent dupe in this situation.
Not surprising. According to the logs on FOXNews, he called Foster right before calling Martino (who relayed the pick information to a bookie) multiple times. Both of them making wagers possibly, with Donaghy being another sort of middleman for Foster? Perhaps skimming off the top of Foster's winnings to increase his own profit?
I highly doubt that, considering this from the article:If it's Donaghy calling Foster and others because they're friends, it's kind of a non-story.
Calls between Foster, 41, and Donaghy, also 41, took place immediately before and after 54 of the 57 games Donaghy officiated from the beginning of the 2006-2007 season until mid-March, when his role in the gambling operation apparently ended.
It's odd that only Fox is reporting on this at the moment. I don't see it on ESPN.com yet; I don't see it nba.com yet; and I don't see it on other news sites like cnn.com, either.
Not necessarily disputing the report, just wondering why it's only getting attention on one outlet.
^Stern CIAism?
wow...that's crazy. the deeper into the rabbit hole we go, the more interesting this saga gets!
LMAO
can't wait for Stern's "I am not a crook!" speech
this Is Going To Blow The Top Off The Massive Conspiracy!
The Has Hit The Fan!!
Stern, Bavetta, And Bob Delaney Are Next!!!!!
Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!
Joey Crawford is in the cross hairs!! Who's next to sing like a canary?? The conspiracy against small-market teams widens!!!
I wonder what timvp has to say now about a possible conspiracy. I remember timvp repeatedly denying such a thing could happen in the NBA and of couse his loyal "ass tasters" marcus bryant, T Park, and ChumpDumper always agreed with him.
So they sample it before timvp to make sure it's not poisoned? I think I hear a rap coming on...I wonder what timvp has to say now about a possible conspiracy. I remember timvp repeatedly denying such a thing could happen in the NBA and of couse his loyal "ass tasters" marcus bryant, T Park, and ChumpDumper always agreed with him.
ChumpDumper is, as Joe Stalin used to say, a "useful idiot".I wonder what timvp has to say now about a possible conspiracy. I remember timvp repeatedly denying such a thing could happen in the NBA and of couse his loyal "ass tasters" marcus bryant, T Park, and ChumpDumper always agreed with him.
The "lone rogue official" theory is as dead as the Dodo bird!
Stern doth protest too much!!
On a more serious note, if this is true? It's going to be a long summer for David Stern. We'll see just how tough his teflon is. My prediction: look for Foster to receive a sizable deposit from an off shore account and then go public with the revelation that he and Donaghy were just having lots of gay phone sex.
there are always ppl who laugh at conspiracy theorists. just look at the remaining Bush backers
David Stern is the " Cheney" of the NBA!
You mean they'll just shotgun Foster's face instead of paying him off?David Stern is the " Cheney" of the NBA!
the feds always dribble out this stuff out before their next indictment!
Last edited by Galileo; 07-14-2008 at 04:37 PM.
Thermite burns! Thermite burns!
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