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USC Update

Posted on Monday, May 1, 2006 at 01:24PM by Registered CommenterCFR in , , , , , , , | Comments1 Comment

It was a relatively quiet first weekend for the USC family of scandals.

The previously reported rumor of a LenDale White false drug test proved false.

However, new questions are being asked about the living arrangement between departed quarterback Matt Leinart and receiver Dwayne Jarrett.  Both lived in a posh downtown Los Angeles apartment, and paid equal parts rent ($650).  However, Leinart's father picked up the rest of the tab.  There may or may not be an NCAA violation based on this arrangement.

The apartment was unusually expensive, but Leinart's parents felt like getting him away from the campus and autograph hounds:

I was freaking out for his safety because people were following him home," Leinart's mother said. "He would walk out of his front door and people were waiting there for autographs."

Leinart's father said he put his son and Jarrett on the lease at the Medici complex downtown. Matt paid $650 a month, Jarrett paid $650 and Bob Leinart said he paid the difference.

"I have checks and money orders to prove it," the father said.

USC compliance officials are looking into whether the football program received an unfair advantage because, while Bob Leinart would have been allowed to make up the difference for his son, he might not have been allowed to do so for another player.

Finally, there are questions about Reggie Bush's future representative, Mike Ornstein, approaching a New Jersey memorabilia dealer in hopes of adding him to the Bush team as an official memorabilia guy.

Bob DeMartino said Saturday that Ornstein asked for a $500,000 payment in return for adding him to Bush's team. The request suggests the possibility that Ornstein was acting as an official representative of Bush, who was still a college player, thereby potentially violating NCAA rules.

Ornstein could not be reached for comment. On Friday, he told the Miami Herald that any talks with DeMartino were preliminary.

"All of that was based on only if I got [Bush] as a client," Ornstein reportedly said. "It was only going to be if and when I signed him. No deal was ever consummated until Reggie signed with me after the season."

DeMartino did not become Bush's memorabilia agent.

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Reader Comments (1)

i know there lot of comments and articles and other stuff written, which tell you apartments in la are extremely expensive. but there is one but. if you look ay apartment finders, you can get some really affordable.
July 20, 2006 | Unregistered Commenterlos angeles

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