DETROIT, Michigan, 15 July 2003 — The perjury trial of National Basketball Association star Chris Webber and his father, Mayce Webber Jr. was to begin yesterday, both facing charges they lied about gifts received when Webber played basketball for the University of Michigan.
Webber, a Sacramento Kings forward, was indicted along with his father last year on charges of lying to a grand jury in 2000 about money and gifts they allegedly received, gifts which are prohibited by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
Eddie Martin, a former University of Michigan supporter who died in February, allegedly paid Webber $280,000 while he played basketball for the university, as well as giving him clothing, jewelry and other items. Federal prosecutors say handwritten notes seized during a raid of Martin’s home detail payments to Webber.
But the prosecution may have trouble proving its case since US District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds, who is presiding over the trial, threw out key evidence last week, including the notes about money allegedly given to Webber. Edmunds also ruled that NBA players, Louis Bullock, Maurice Taylor and Robert Traylor cannot testify about the accuracy of Martin’s records regarding alleged payments to them.
The government says that records found in Martin’s home show that he paid the three men when they played for Michigan.
Traylor and Bullock told a grand jury that they had taken money from Martin. Edmunds said those notes and the former Michigan players’ testimony could not be used at Webber’s trial because they are unrelated to whether Martin paid Webber.
Martin was a retired Ford Motor Company electrician, who ran an illegal lottery at Metro Detroit auto plants. Martin laundered the lottery money by making loans to collegiate basketball stars with the hope that they would go on to the NBA and later repay him. The government learned about Martin’s alleged payments to Webber and other former Michigan players when, with the permission of a federal judge, it secretly wiretapped Martin’s phone during its investigation of his illegal gambling.
