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Former Tutor Indicted, Charged With Violating Sport Agent Law

Posted on Oct. 3, 2013
Jennifer Wiley Thompson '09.

Jennifer Wiley Thompson ’09 has been prominent in news of the scandal but has not spoken publicly. She appeared in District Court on Oct. 3 with her attorney Elliot Abrams ’08, left. (Chris Seward / News & Observer)

Jennifer Wiley Thompson ’09, the former tutor who became linked to UNC’s long-running investigations into its football program, has been charged with violating a state law governing contact with sports agents.

An indictment was handed up by an Orange County grand jury this week and was immediately sealed, according to media report. It was unsealed today, and Thompson later appeared in Orange County District Court.

Judge Lunsford Long ’67 presided over today’s hearing as District Attorney James Woodall ’82 detailed the four low-level felony charges against her. She is being charged with agent athlete inducement, according to news reports.

A tentative Oct. 15 date in Orange County Superior Court has been scheduled.

According to prosecutors, Thompson — known as Jennifer Wiley before her marriage — provided former UNC football player Greg Little ’12 with two $579 roundtrip plane tickets to Florida, in part to persuade him to enter a contract with a sports agent. The indictments charge that Thompson delivered packages containing money to Little.

According to various media, Thompson is believed to be the first of several arrests expected in connection with an investigation by the N.C. Secretary of State’s office into allegations of athletes receiving improper benefits.

In September, nearly three years after Little was suspended from the team as Carolina’s now-long-running investigations into its football program began, Little told investigators with N.C. Secretary of State’s office that he received more money from a sports agent than previously reported and that Thompson was a go-between with the agent.

According to media reports, the disclosures are contained in a document that had been previously sealed and was released by the state in early September.

In October 2010, Little, then a wide receiver from Durham, was declared ineligible by UNC for violations of NCAA agent benefits, preferential treatment and ethical conduct rules. According to the facts submitted by the University, the total value of the benefits for Little was approximately $4,952.

In the documents unsealed in September, Little reportedly had told state investigators in January that he received multiple payments over many months totaling more than $20,000 from a sports agent in 2010. Little said payments were sent from the sports agent to Thompson and that Thompson then forwarded them to him, according to media reports.

Thompson has been represented by Raleigh attorney Joseph B. Cheshire V ’70, who sent a text message to media outlets today saying: “I would encourage all your readers to remember an indictment is simply a charge, it is not evidence of any guilt.”

Little was one of 11 players who received varying penalties stemming from disclosures in 2010 that began with reports of improper player contacts with sports agents and other outsiders and evolved into allegations of academic misconduct.

Little now plays professional football with the Cleveland Browns.

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