Prosecutors on Wednesday dropped the domestic violence case against former University of Miami and Miami Dolphins running back Mark Walton, six months after his most recent arrest — one that might have ended his NFL career.

Walton had been charged with aggravated battery on a person known to be pregnant. The alleged victim? His live-in girlfriend.

The Dolphins moved quickly to cut Walton, who was on a zero-tolerance policy with the team after a string of early 2019 arrests in South Florida. He was actually serving a league-imposed suspension for those incidents when arrested on the most recent charge. The Dolphins quickly released him.

Cops at the time said Walton pushed his girlfriend, five weeks pregnant, against a wall “and punched her several times in the face and head.” Walton denied touching the woman “at any point in time,” his attorney, Michael Gottlieb, said following Walton’s November bond hearing.

“He’s a great young player,” Gottlieb told the Miami Herald on Wednesday. “He came up in a tough area of Miami without a good father figure and he’s had a little bit of trouble. But by and large everything he’s had has been dismissed. I’d really like to see a team take a chance on him. … I know that he can overcome this.”

Walton’s November arrest was his fourth of the year. The previous charges — misdemeanor marijuana possession, misdemeanor battery, reckless driving, resisting an officer without violence and openly carrying a weapon — were either dropped of pleaded down. And even that plea deal was thrown out because a judge made an administrative error.

Walton was also accused of striking his girlfriend, Jasmin Thompson, months before the November arrest, but police never could make a case against him.

Just because the legal case has been resolved doesn’t mean that Walton will be welcomed back into the NFL. Even if a team believes he’s straightened out his act, the league could still administer its own punishment, particularly since he’s been disciplined before. The matter remains under review, NFL Network reported Wednesday.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Adam Beasley has covered the Dolphins for the Miami Herald since 2012, and has worked for the newspaper since 2006. He is a graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications and has written about sports professionally since 1996.
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Spartak Moscow’s Under-19s captain Leonid Mironov will not face punishment by Uefa for allegedly racially abusing Liverpool starlet Rhian Brewster.

Uefa announced on Wednesday morning they had found “no evidence” to support Brewster’s allegations of racial abuse by Mironov during Liverpool Under-19s’ 2-0 win at home to Spartak in December.

However, Uefa said they believed Brewster had made his complaint in “complete good faith”.

Brewster, who won the World Cup with the England U-17 side last October, had to be restrained by his teammates at the end of the victory over Spartak in December before he told referee Mohammed Al-Hakim of the incident involving Mironov.

Uefa subsequently charged Mironov with racist behaviour and carried out an independent investigation into the incident, in which they asked players from both teams and the match officials about it.

In a statement released by the European governing body, they said: “The inspector took statements from five players from both teams, as well as from two match officials, who were in the vicinity of the alleged incident. None of these heard any discriminatory words.

“Leonid Mironov was also interviewed by the inspector and stated that he indeed swore at Rhian Brewster, but he unreservedly denied using any discriminatory language.

“After concluding his investigation, the inspector found no evidence to corroborate the allegations, which he believed were made in complete good faith by the Liverpool player Rhian Brewster.

“Therefore, the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, following the recommendation of the inspector, established that there was no evidence that would legally support sanctioning the FC Spartak Moskva youth player Leonid Mironov and thus decided to close the disciplinary proceedings.”

In September, Liverpool’s Bobby Adekanye – who was born in Nigeria – was subjected to racist chants and gestures from some Spartak fans in Moscow.

Uefa responded by charging the Russian club – whose stadium will be used for this summer’s World Cup – and forcing them to partially close their academy stadium for their next fixture, which left just 500 seats empty. 

Speaking about his experience of racism in football after the Spartak game, Brewster told The Guardian: “I love the game. I’m never going to stop loving it. 

“It’s just disappointing to know it’s still in the game. If it wasn’t in the game, it would be so much better. You wouldn’t have to worry about playing abroad, worrying about what the fans are going to say, or what another player is going to say. 

“I wouldn’t have to worry that if I score they are going to call me all types of names.”

U.S. District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Thursday denied a motion to dismiss federal criminal charges against three of the 10 men arrested for their alleged roles in the FBI’s two-year investigation into college basketball corruption.

Attorneys representing former Adidas executives James Gatto and Merl Code and former sports agent Christian Dawkins argued in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday morning that what their clients are accused of doing — allegedly funneling money from Adidas to the families of high-profile recruits to ensure that the players signed with Adidas-sponsored schools and then Adidas and certain sports agents and financial planners once they turned pro — doesn’t constitute a federal crime.

Their attorneys also challenged the government’s argument that the victims in the case are the universities where the players signed, because the players certified that they were eligible to play when they weren’t, after they or their families accepted improper benefits.

The federal government has dropped criminal charges against Jonathan Augustine, a former AAU basketball director from Florida, who was one of 10 men arrested in September for allegedly conspiring to funnel money from Adidas to recruits’ families.

Augustine, the former president of The League Initiative and director of the 1 Family AAU in Orlando, Florida, was charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering after the FBI’s two-year investigation into bribes and other corruption in men’s college basketball.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office asked a federal judge to dismiss charges against Augustine on Friday, and a spokesman for the U.S. District Court of Southern New York confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday that the case against Augustine is closed.

The federal government has dropped criminal charges against Jonathan Augustine, a former AAU basketball director from Florida, who was one of 10 men arrested in September for allegedly conspiring to funnel money from Adidas to recruits’ families.

Augustine, the former president of The League Initiative and director of the 1 Family AAU in Orlando, was charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering after the FBI’s two-year investigation into bribes and other corruption in college basketball.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office asked a federal judge to dismiss charges against Augustine on Friday, and a spokesman for the U.S. District Court of Southern New York confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday that the case against Augustine is closed.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the federal government had requested to dismiss the charges against Augustine.

The FBI’s clandestine investigation led to the arrests of four assistant coaches: Arizona’s Emmanuel “Book” Richardson, Auburn’s Chuck Person, Oklahoma State’s Lamont Evans and USC’s Tony Bland.

The FBI also alleged that Adidas executives Jim Gatto and Merl Code, sports agent Christian Dawkins and financial planner Munish Sood conspired with others to steer high-profile recruits to Adidas-sponsored schools, including Louisville and Miami. In return, the coaches would ensure that the players signed with Adidas, Dawkins and Sood when they turned pro.

The investigation led to the firings of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino and athletics director Tom Jurich. Pitino and Jurich have denied knowing about the scheme to funnel money to players’ families.

Augustine and Sood weren’t indicted on the federal charges, and a person familiar with the case told ESPN that it’s believed that Augustine and Sood are cooperating with federal authorities.

The FBI alleged that Augustine met with Gatto, Code, Dawkins and an unnamed Louisville assistant coach at a Las Vegas hotel room on July 27. Financial planner Marty Blazer, who was working with the federal government, and an undercover FBI agent were also in the meeting, which the FBI recorded with hidden video cameras.

During the meeting, the federal complaint alleges, Dawkins laid out plans to funnel money to the family of an unnamed Louisville recruit, who was scheduled to graduate from high school in 2019. “The mom is like, ‘We need our [expletive] money,'” Dawkins said. “So we got to be able to fund the situation … We’re all working together to get this kid to [Louisville]. Obviously, in turn, the kid will come back to us.”

When Dawkins mentioned they’d have to be careful because the Cardinals were already on NCAA probation, the Louisville assistant agreed. “We gotta be very low-key,” he said.