When the National Collegiate Athletic Association asked Kenneth Wainstein and a team of attorneys from Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to investigate the NCAA’s enforcement staff, it was a tall order. In 27 days, Wainstein and a team of attorneys interviewed 22 people and sifted through 4,300 documents to product the 55-page report, which ultimately found missteps on the part of staff, but no violation of law or bylaw.
The NCAA was investigating allegations that University of Miami players received illegal gifts from convicted Ponzi-scheme orchestrator Nevin Shapiro. Former director of enforcement Ameen Najjar circumvented the advice of legal staff when he hired Shapiro’s attorney, Maria Elena Perez, to depose witnesses key to the NCAA investigation using her client’s bankruptcy subpoenas. After the NCAA learned of the depositions, it agreed not to use them in the investigation.
