Christian Dawkins seeks new trial after FBI agent pleads guilty to gambling government money

An attorney for an aspiring sports business manager convicted in the college basketball bribery case asked a judge for a new trial after a former FBI agent admitted to gambling with $13,500 in government money at a Las Vegas casino at the time of a key sting operation in the investigation.

Christian Dawkins, who was convicted in October 2018 and April 2019 trials on charges in connection with bribing players, their families and college coaches, is scheduled to begin his prison term Tuesday, according to court filings. His attorney, Steven Haney, argued in the motion filed Monday that the FBI agent's admission of wrongdoing compromised the case and should prompt a new trial.

New York City-based FBI special agent Scott Carpenter, 40, last week pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of conversion of government money. His sentencing is scheduled for May 18, when he faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison, supervised release and restitution.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Nevada, Carpenter and three other FBI agents traveled to Las Vegas to conduct an undercover operation July 27-31, 2017.

«At the conclusion of the operation, Carpenter went to a casino's high limit room, where he gambled on blackjack with $13,500 belonging to the United States,» the office's news release states.

During that sting, undercover FBI agents posing as investors in Dawkins' fledgling sports agency were set up in a luxury hotel room at the Cosmopolitan hotel. There, a parade of assistant college basketball coaches invited by Dawkins and co-defendant and former Adidas consultant Merl Code discussed delivering players for cash, with some taking money directly from the undercover agent.

When the bribery case went to