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Kings' Webber Denies Accepting Money
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:39 a.m. ET
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber denied accepting thousands of dollars from a banned Michigan booster.
A federal indictment released last month charged that Ed Martin, a retired Ford Motor Co. electrician, gave players more than $600,000 while they were in high school and college.
According to the indictment, Webber received about $280,000 from 1988-93, a period extending from his freshman year at Detroit Country Day high school through his sophomore season at Michigan.
``There's no way in the world that I took $280,000 from someone,'' Webber told ESPN Classic. ``I've said this a million times. We had to actually go to court to testify about it, so if the judge, if the lawyers, if everyone else respected it, I thought it would get out to the media outlets as well. So, no, I didn't take anything.
``And in no way do I want to mess up the name of college basketball, especially my university, the University of Michigan, which is the greatest university ever in the world. ... I don't want to put a bad mark on my family's name, so as I said before, no, I did not accept the money. And how can you take the word of a criminal anyway?''
Martin and his wife were arrested March 21 on charges of running an illegal gambling business, conspiracy and money laundering. They pleaded innocent and were released on $10,000 bond each.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 9:39 a.m. ET
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Sacramento Kings forward Chris Webber denied accepting thousands of dollars from a banned Michigan booster.
A federal indictment released last month charged that Ed Martin, a retired Ford Motor Co. electrician, gave players more than $600,000 while they were in high school and college.
According to the indictment, Webber received about $280,000 from 1988-93, a period extending from his freshman year at Detroit Country Day high school through his sophomore season at Michigan.
``There's no way in the world that I took $280,000 from someone,'' Webber told ESPN Classic. ``I've said this a million times. We had to actually go to court to testify about it, so if the judge, if the lawyers, if everyone else respected it, I thought it would get out to the media outlets as well. So, no, I didn't take anything.
``And in no way do I want to mess up the name of college basketball, especially my university, the University of Michigan, which is the greatest university ever in the world. ... I don't want to put a bad mark on my family's name, so as I said before, no, I did not accept the money. And how can you take the word of a criminal anyway?''
Martin and his wife were arrested March 21 on charges of running an illegal gambling business, conspiracy and money laundering. They pleaded innocent and were released on $10,000 bond each.
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