Former NBA ref Donaghy gets 15 months
Tim Donaghy, the NBA referee who schemed with gamblers to pass along insider information on games, was sentenced to 15 months in prison in federal court today. Donaghy's partners in the schemes, high school friends James Battista and Thomas Martino, were sentenced last week. Battista received a 15-month sentence for placing wagers on games about which Donaghy provided information. Martino received about a year. He paid Donaghy for the information.
That Donaghy received 15 months surprised some observers because his information helped prosecutors build their case against Battista and Martino. However, the obvious fact was that the Donaghy case's publicity made escaping prison impossible for the NBA ref. The three convicted men also have been ordered to pay a combined $217,266 to the NBA in restitution.
Yet to come are the results of the NBA's own probe into the Donaghy situation as well as concerns over possible inappropriate conduct by other referees.
Comments
Interesting discussion this morning on Mike & Mike. The question, how can a person by just knowing the crew of refs assigned the game could perdict the outcome of the game with 80% accurancy?????
---------------------------------------------
Capt.,
If that's the case, it tells us a lot about the how differently crews officiate games. It may not sway the final results but can impact quite predictably on the spread.
-- Bill O.
Posted by: Captain Jack | July 29, 2008 2:47 PM