Lane Kiffin, FAU Accused of Fraud in Lawsuit by Former Alabama WR Antonio Carter
Former Alabama wideout Antonio Carter is suing Lane Kiffin, Florida Atlantic and the state of Florida for fraud, according to Christopher Walsh of SEC Country and Bleacher Report.
Carter claimed he was only offered the job of assistant strength and conditioning coach to help Florida Atlantic obtain a prospect, and the school reneged on its offer once that player agreed to a scholarship.
"The prospect's family had just celebrated New Year's Eve together with Plaintiff Antonio Carter and his family just a few weeks earlier," the lawsuit noted. "It is believed that this relationship between Plaintiff Antonio Carter and the coveted prospect was known to the coaches and defendants at the time he was hired."
Carter has claimed Kiffin assured him he had been hired, but Florida Atlantic then informed Carter that he hadn't passed a background check "due to two prior minor misdemeanor criminal charges."
A.J. Perez of USA Today noted that Carter had four previous arrests under misdemeanor charges, however:
"Carter was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia by Tallahassee (Fla.) police in March 2010. He was arrested in November 2010 on a failure to appear on a drug charge. He also had two arrests for operating a motor vehicle with a suspended or revoked license in 2014, one in May of that year by the Florida Highway Patrol and the other by Florida State University police in November.
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Carter took pleas and accrued no jail time in each case, as Perez reported.
Carter said both he and his wife quit their jobs and traveled to the campus after receiving the alleged assurances from Kiffin, as Carter was going to assist the school in recruiting for national signing day.
He also claimed he had resolved his misdemeanor charges and sent documentation to Florida Atlantic, but the school never responded. He added that athletic director Patrick Chun refused to meet with him, even after he waited outside of Chun's office for several hours.
