Iowa Hawkeyes Wrestling HC Tom Brands’ Claims on Misuse of Authority in Betting Scandal Turn Out To Be True

“What was the Department of Justice doing in the state of Iowa to target Iowa State and the University of Iowa athletes? What were they doing? … You’re the media… Ask the questions.” Iowa Hawkeyes HC Tom Brands had said these words back in November 2023 about a betting scandal going on in the NCAA. However, he was written off as an emotional and protective coach back then.

After two long months, however, Brands’ claims are echoing loudly throughout the news as he was right on the money with them. In a major development, the authorities involved in the detaining of Iowa Hawkeyes and ISU Cyclones wrestlers have now been challenged. In fact, even the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has held that nothing illegal was done by these students.

Iowa Hawkeyes and ISU Cyclones wrestlers see a positive development

According to a news report by Who13.com, a DCI agent has been accused of using non-procedural methods of investigations based on unfounded prenotions. The accusation has been made by Van Plumb, the attorney of ISU wrestlers Eyioma Uwazurike and Isaiah Lee, who has filed a new motion in court.

The two wrestlers were charged with theft as well as tampering with courtroom evidence. Sadly, they are just two of several Iowa Hawkeyes and ISU student-athletes, including the ones who have already graduated. Uwazurike had placed some bets using an account bearing the name of his girlfriend which got him in trouble. 

But, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says that this was as commonplace as sharing the credentials of a Netflix account between students. The new motion demands why the Iowa Hawkeyes and the ISU wrestlers were singled out for this investigation. In fact, the attorney also alleged that a completely warrantless investigation was launched to apprehend these students.

Going forward with an investigation despite being denied authorization

According to Van Plumb, DCI Agent Brian Sanger utilized a data collecting software called ‘Kibana’ to install an unauthorized GeoFence on a dormitory at the University of Iowa. This was done to identify gambling applications that were running on the University premises to catch underage gamblers. 

While Sanger wanted to move ahead and investigate the university premises, he was denied authorization for it. Despite this, he forcefully executed an investigation plan to get hold of ISU and Iowa Hawkeyes wrestlers. On being directly asked about his motives behind doing so, Sanger revealed that he doesn’t really remember why he did so.

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Later on, however, he says that the investigation was launched to identify outside infiltrators who could have potentially been after insider information on match-fixing. The legality of the methods used is being questioned by the court now. Will the Iowa Hawkeyes and ISU wrestlers be able to get the right justice from the court?

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