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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Merl Code

Black Market: my life inside the seedy underbelly of college basketball

Merl Code leaves court after his sentencing in 2019
Merl Code leaves court after his sentencing in 2019. Photograph: Richard Drew/AP

When the FBI shocked the college basketball world with its 2017 announcement of charges in a corruption scandal, I was caught in the cross fire.

That morning, I was in bed. It was a Tuesday. September 26. Early, around 6.15am. My wife, Candance, who has a PhD in occupational therapy and was pregnant with my son August at the time, and I had just returned from a surprise trip to Canada for her birthday. She was in the bathroom, getting ready to go to work. I heard somebody knocking at the door. It was still dark outside. Nobody in their right mind would be knocking that early in the morning. I jumped up out of the bed, still half asleep, and rushed downstairs to see what all the commotion was about.

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