Eric Leak, a former N.C. State football player, agreed to a plea arrangement on Thursday in a Medicaid fraud case at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, according to court documents.
Leak is charged with paying kickbacks and money laundering while he served as executive director of Nature’s Reflections, a Durham mental health services provider from 2011-14. He faces a maximum of five years in prison for the kickback scheme and 10 years on the money laundering charge, plus fines.
N.C. State asked in November 2011 that Leak dissociate himself from the university for 10 years after the NCAA said Leak had provided improper benefits to basketball players C.J. Leslie and Tracy Smith.
Leslie, who received $410 of impermissible benefits, was suspended for three games in the 2011-12 basketball season.
Leak later told The News & Observer that he had contacted former football standout David Amerson in June 2012. The university then requested that Leak not contact any other N.C. State athlete while also asking the Secretary of State’s office to determine whether Leak was violating the state’s athlete agent act.
This is a developing story. Check back for details.