O.J. Mayo allegations attract NCAA, Pac-10 and USC officials

In a seven-hour meeting Monday at the Los Angeles office of one of Johnson's attorneys, NCAA investigators led the questioning of Johnson and reviewed receipts that the former Mayo confidant had provided to ESPN for an "Outside the Lines" report that aired last month, Johnson attorney David M. Murphy said.

Murphy said the receipts, which included hotel bills, credit card receipts and cellphone statements, would soon be forwarded to the FBI, which along with the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. attorney's office is probing alleged criminal transgressions by Bill Duffy Associates Sports Management and possible tax evasion and misuse of charitable organization funds by Mayo advisor Rodney Guillory.

Spokespersons for the FBI, IRS and U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles declined to comment about the investigation.

Anthony V. Salerno, another of Johnson's attorneys, said the government agencies have begun investigating the case. He also speculated, based on 15 years leading his own law practice, that the U.S. attorney's office doesn't routinely involve itself in "a petty case" without "an internal sense of what's significant enough to spend their time on."

Salerno said federal prosecutors and investigators were aware of the potential for a larger-scale probe into how sports agencies attach themselves to young basketball stars.

"My sense is the government is drawing the line now," Salerno said. "They don't want to be seen as ignoring the problem. It happens so much, and this is the rare case where they have access to the facts, Louis' story. The curtain's been pulled back. It's too strong to ignore."

Johnson has accused BDA of providing about $250,000 in cash and benefits to Guillory, who funneled an estimated $30,000 of that to Mayo beginning when he was in high school and during his freshman season at USC. Mayo allegedly received a flat-screen TV, clothing, cellphone service, meals at restaurants such as Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles and the use of a Hermosa Beach hotel room. It is a misdemeanor in California for agents to provide cash or other benefits to college athletes.