CORAL GABLES, Fla. —
The NCAA's enforcement staff has agreed to strike at least some of former Miami quarterback Kyle Wright's testimony from its case against the Hurricanes, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press
on Friday night.
In its response to Miami's motion that was filed two weeks ago asking for the case to be brought to an immediate end, the NCAA's investigative arm said it would remove some of Wright's testimony "in an abundance of caution" according to the person, who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because neither the association nor the Hurricanes authorized the move to be revealed publicly.
It's a victory for Miami, though the size of that victory will only be known as the case continues. It's also unclear if the NCAA will drop all of Wright's testimony, or just a portion.
In its motion, which was based in part on what the school said was ill-gotten testimony from Wright, Miami asked the NCAA's Committee on Infractions — the group that would actually hear the case, not the investigators who shaped the case — to bring the long saga to an end.
As of now, the case is still scheduled to be heard by the Committee on Infractions starting
June 14.Miami argued that some of the questions Wright was asked in a February 2012 interview with NCAA investigators were based on answers given in depositions that were conducted as part of a bankruptcy case by the attorney for former Hurricanes booster Nevin Shapiro, whose claims of providing impermissible benefits to Miami athletes, recruits and coaches for nearly a decade are the root of the scandal.
Those depositions were conducted under subpoena power, a tool the NCAA does not have. The NCAA has said it removed information gleaned in those depositions from the notice of allegations against Miami, though the Hurricanes argued that process did not go far enough.
"In an abundance of caution, the enforcement staff will suppress (Wright's) transcript as well as strike through any allegations relying solely on the information the student-athlete reported," read a portion of the NCAA's response.
Miami cited six allegations that Wright helped investigators substantiate in a February 2012 interview.
Wright, according to Miami's motion, acknowledged getting extra benefits "only after (now-retired NCAA investigator Rich) Johanningmeier asked him specific questions regarding the benefits" that the former quarterback received from Shapiro, a convicted felon serving a 20-year term in federal prison for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme.
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