University of Michigan basketball scandal

The University of Michigan basketball scandal, or the Ed Martin scandal, concerned National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rules violations resulting from the relationship between the University of Michigan (or Michigan), its men's basketball program, and booster Eddie L. "Ed" Martin. The violations principally involved payments booster Martin made to several players to launder money from an illegal gambling operation. It is one of the largest incidents involving payments to athletes in American collegiate history. An initial investigation by the school was joined by the NCAA, Big Ten Conference, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). As a result of this investigation, Michigan's basketball program was punished with sanctions.

The case began when the investigation of an automobile accident involving Michigan player Maurice Taylor revealed a curious relationship between Martin and Michigan's basketball program dating back to the 1980s. Several Michigan players were implicated over the next few years and by 1999 some were called before a federal grand jury. Four eventual professional basketball players—Taylor, Chris Webber, Robert Traylor and Louis Bullock—were discovered to have borrowed a total of $616,000 from Martin. During the investigation, Webber claimed not to have had any financial relationship with Martin, but eventually confessed to taking loans from Martin. He was both fined in the legal system and briefly suspended by the National Basketball Association (NBA) after performing public service.

In 1997, Michigan coach Steve Fisher was fired for his involvement in violations relating to the scandal. Subsequently, the NCAA investigation did not find him culpable of significant wrongdoing related to the scandal. By the fall of 2002, it was obvious that the four players were in fact guilty of taking money from Martin, and had thus compromised their amateur status. In response, Michigan placed the basketball program on two years' probation, withdrew from postseason consideration for the 2002–03 season, vacated all or part of five past seasons and removed the players' names and achievements from its record book. A few months later, the NCAA accepted these punishments, doubled both the probation period and the postseason ineligibility, penalized Michigan one scholarship for four seasons, and ordered the school to disassociate from the three living guilty players until 2012 (Webber's ban extended through 2013; the fourth player, Traylor, died in 2011).

The punishment cost the 2002–2003 team its postseason eligibility, cost past teams the 1997 National Invitation Tournament and the 1998 Big Ten tournament championships as well as appearances in the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Final Fours. It cost Webber his All-American 1993 honors, Traylor his MVP awards in the 1997 NIT and 1998 Big Ten tournament, as well as Bullock's standing as the school's third all-time leading scorer and all-time leader in free throws and the Big Ten's all-time leader in 3-point field goals (surpassed in 2011). The additional year of postseason ineligibility was overturned on appeal. Mandatory disassociations with the surviving players ended on May 8, 2013.