Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Latest Donaghy allegation: FBI was "adamant" other NBA referees passed along inside info that could "help others place winning bets"

Appearing on ESPN Radio affiliate 1080AM (The Fan, Portland) on 5/10/10, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy said the following in response to a question regarding whether other referees were betting on NBA games:

"I know that the FBI agents were adamant that with the information I gave them, and through their investigation, I certainly wasn't the only one that was passing along inside information to others that could help others place winning bets."1

Reprising an earlier post with a similar theme, if it is true "FBI agents" (i.e., not just Donaghy and not merely a current or former FBI agent) believed other NBA referees were "passing along inside information to others that could help others place winning bets," that would certainly be news.  It would also suggest that cooperating witness Donaghy was somehow privy to confidential aspects of a federal investigation, possibly even as it was unfolding.  Of course, given Donaghy's problematic record of, to be polite, "misstatements" to date, all of this being true is a big "if".  Thus, it would be helpful if hosts would ask for evidence backing up Donaghy's myriad claims, and why/how he supposedly knows so much about the FBI's investigation when it is standard policy for law enforcement officials not to share criminal intelligence with cooperating witnesses.  As is often said in criminal justice circles, information dissemination with informants and cooperating witnesses is a one-way street - they provide information to authorities (not the other way around).

1 From 11:41 of the interview from the "Primetime with Isaac & Big Suke" program.