By Jay Jones, June 4, 2008

O.J. Mayo, you think you’re untouchable?

Think again.

From today’s Los Angeles Times:

The FBI, IRS and U.S. attorney’s office have begun a joint investigation into potential income tax evasion and fraud stemming from the alleged misuse of charitable organization funds by basketball star O.J. Mayo’s former advisor, an attorney familiar with the investigation said Tuesday night.

And that got me to thinking about a question that has dogged local, regional, and national media-types: what can prevent one-and-done collegiate athletes from taking the money?

The school they’re leaving can’t penalize them.

The NCAA can’t penalize them.

The professional league they are headed to doesn’t want to penalize them.

Ahhh…but the federal government can. More specifically, the IRS can. And will. Just ask former University of Michigan “Fab 5″ member Chris Webber.

And that might be the solution to this one-and-done question: follow the money. And make sure they pay taxes on it.

While I would like to think I’m the only one that has come up with this obviously brilliant solution, alas, I am not.

Here’s NBA Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban on his blog:

Bring in the IRS. I think I can say with certainty that there were not any contracts signed between the parties giving and receiving money on the behalf of High School students. Agree ?

I think I can also say with certainty that those who gave more than 10k dollars in gifts did not pay any gift taxes on amounts given to individuals. If the amounts were given to charities, I’m guessing some, if not most of those charities were either not qualified or did not live up to their certification requirements.

Get the IRS involved, and I bet not only would the investigation pay for itself with untold millions coming back to the US Treasury in taxes and penalties, but the agents would clean up their acts very , very quickly. It would also clean up much of what ails “amateur” basketball. Its a world that has become dependent on a thriving underground economy. its a cash business. Just the kind the IRS should and could step in to clean up.

Up until this point, one-and-done athletes have been concerned about…well, not much. Do you think they’re really scared of their school or the NCAA? No. There’s no reason for them to be.

But the federal government is a different matter, as the Conquest Chronicles notes:

Having almost gone through my interview with the DOJ on a business matter I can tell you that these guys need to buckle up because it’s going to be a bumpy ride. They deserve it!

Who has the most to risk in this situation? The person with nothing or the person with everything? It’s going to be the person with everything, all the time.

That’s why O.J. Mayo is going to become the poster boy for “One-and-Done Athletes Gone Bad”. Do I really think he’s going to be cellmates with Wesley Snipes’ Sidney Dean? I doubt it. But he’s muckin’ with the G’s now. And as the Conquest Chronicles observes, he’ll probably be facing some tough questions:

I have seen elsewhere where the thought process is that with the Feds now involved that SC will finally get hammered. People need to understand one thing here; SC is not implicated in this. I am sure Mayo will have to answer some questions and he should. That’s a good thing, as it will either clear him or it won’t.

One-and-done athlete, Kevin Costner, and Robert Stack, got Capone. That means they can get you, too. And if they can’t get you, they can get the people around you. Agents. Go-betweens. Runners. Friends. Maybe even family.

So, what are you prepared to do? One-and-done? Or 5 to 10?

Here endeth the lesson.

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