Book Richardson’s sentencing has been moved from Thursday to June 6, according to federal filings in U.S. District Court.
The former UA assistant coach is now scheduled to be sentenced by judge Edgardo Ramos on June 6 at 11 a.m. in New York, while other scheduled sentences related to plea bargains stemming from the recently concluded federal bribery case were also moved up: Former USC coach Tony Bland will now be sentenced at 10:30 a.m. on June 5 while former Oklahoma State coach Lamont Evans will be sentenced at 11:30 a.m. on June 7.
Agent Christian Dawkins and Adidas rep Merl Code, meanwhile, were found guilty in both the October fraud trial and the recently concluded bribery trial.
Richardson’s attorney, Craig Mordock, filed a sentencing submission to Ramos on May 20 asking for a probation-only sentence after a probation officer recommended three months in prison.
Mordock also filed an apology for mistakenly filing later than the May 16 submission deadline, which resulted in prosecutors asking for a one-day extension to respond, though that did not appear related to the sentencing extension.
In January, Richardson reached a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to one count of federal funds bribery while four other charges were dismissed. He told Ramos he accepted $20,000 in exchange for a promise to steer student-athletes to aspiring agent Christian Dawkins for representation when they reached the pros.
The circumstances of the charge that Richardson pleaded guilty to normally carry a sentencing range of 18-24 months.
Bland admitted to accepting $4,100 and his attorney is arguing he shouldn’t be given prison time (the L.A. Times published an in-depth story on Sunday about what the government had on Bland). Evans admitted receiving $22,000 in exchange for promising to steer Oklahoma State players to Dawkins’ firm.
