Todd Gurley Suspension: What about the rat?

With Georgia Bulldogs running back Todd Gurley still indefinitely suspended while the school and he NCAA look into his alleged heinous crime of taking money for his own autographs, attention has started to shift to the

person

rat who blew the whistle on the Heisman hopeful, sports memorabilia dealer Bryan Allen

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Allen shopped the story about Gurley signing multiple items for his memorabilia business “Players” (now run on Ebay due to the Rome, Ga. storefront closing in early 2014) because he said Gurley’s items were supposedly “losing a ton of value”, per an SBNation report.

The reason the autographs allegedly lost value?

Allen says its because Gurley supposedly screwed him by “doing this with about 30 other guys”, meaning the signing of items for sale online and in retail stores.

[H/T Deadspin.com]

"“I spent a few grand on the signing and Gurley has since kind of screwed me by doing this with about 30 other guys. The stuff has lost a ton of its value. Just wanna recoup some of my money.”"

If what Gurley did was wrong (and it’s truly only wrong in the letter of the law sense…a rule that makes absolutely no sense), then what Allen did and is doing is ten times as despicable. More to that point, while Gurley’s alleged actions were a violation of NCAA rules, what Allen has done is against the law.

The State of Georgia has a law on the books that makes it illegal for unscrupulous and predatory dealers such as Allen to entice student-athletes into these types of deals.

Here is a section from Georgia Code Title 20, Chapter 2, Article 6 – Amendment to part 14 (HB95)

"Each public and private institution of postsecondary education located in this state that participates or engages in intercollegiate athletics shall have a right of action against any person who engages in any activity concerning student-athletes that results in the institution being penalized, disqualified, or suspended from participation in intercollegiate athletics by a national association for the promotion and regulation of intercollegiate athletics, by an athletic conference or other sanctioning body, or by reasonable self-imposed disciplinary action taken by such institution to mitigate sanctions likely to be imposed by such organizations as a result of such activity.The institution shall be entitled to recover all damages which are directly related to or which flow from and are reasonably related to such improper activity and to such penalties, disqualifications, and suspensions.Damages shall include, but not be limited to, loss of scholarships, loss of television revenue, loss of bowl revenue, and legal and other fees associated with the investigation of the activity and the representation of the institution before the sanctioning organizations in connection with the investigation and resolution of such activity.If the institution is the prevailing party in its cause of action, it shall be entitled to an award of court costs, costs of litigation, and reasonable attorney’s fees. The institution may also request and the court may enter an injunction against any person found liable from having any further contact with the institution, its student-athletes, and student-athletes who have expressed or might express an interest in attending the institution and from attending athletic contests, exhibitions, games, or other such events in which one or more of the institution’s student-athletes is participating. The right of action and remedies under this Code section are in addition to all other rights of action which may be available to the institution."

What this essentially says is that the University of Georgia is entitled to sue Bryan Allen for any damages, real and punitive, that are incurred by Gurley’s suspension. To go a step further, this may also be revised into a criminal act, with the possibility of jail time involved.

Will UGA sue Allen for damages? Probably not. The combination of the number of years a case can drag out in Georgia civil courts combined with the possibility of a lawsuit dragging further skeletons from the UGA closet that are best left alone would more than likely prevent any litigation from happening.

As for Allen’s part? He’s a man on an island right now. He’s essentially lost any credibility, having denied who he was and what his business was after he shopped the story to SBNation, Deadspin and others. His former business partners have disavowed him, stating that they cut ties with Allen in 2013, but that he was legally allowed to keep the business name for his Ebay store.

Allen has also had to retain an attorney…and not just any attorney, but one of the most famous (and probably expensive) attorneys in the Atlanta area, Ed Garland, who also represented Ray Lewis (during his murder trial here in Atlanta), Dany Heatly (the former Atlanta Thrasher who was responsible for a car accident that killed teammate Dan Snyder) and rap artist T.I.

His storefront closed, his Twitter, Facebook and all other social media accounts deleted, his cellphone disconnected, and his Ebay store bearing a new name – Bryan Allen is a man without a country.

But else should we expect. After all…the guy is a Florida Gator fan.