The attorneys of the athletes of Iowa are reportedly pressing charges as they have filed a federal lawsuit on the grounds of “wrongdoing by state employees and agencies.”
According to the report more than twenty athletes are suing the state of Iowa, its agencies and several state employees after a sports wagering scandal destroyed several of their careers. Last year, the state investigators reported undergoing investigations regarding wagering by 26 athletes at Iowa and 15 of them of Iowa State.
Many of the athletes who were accused of identity theft were mostly fined after entering guilty pleas to “underage gambling and paid a fine”. However there were few of them who declined a plea deal; they had their charges released against them in March due to “misuse of tracking software by investigators”.
More than two dozen college athletes are suing the state of Iowa, multiple of its agencies, and several state workers after a sports betting scandal ended many of their careers.@mgfleming12 explains ⬇️
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) April 27, 2024
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Van Plumb and Matthew Boles after the Washington Post report which stated how investigators revealed the wagering activity by using a tracking software. The investigators had not obtained a warrant and interviewed athletes without informing them that they were under an investigation.
The attorneys as per FOS, spoke on behalf of athletes from Iowa, Iowa State, and Ellsworth Community College and asserted that the use of the software “without a warrant was unconstitutional” and the athletes were deluded into thinking they are not being investigated which subsequently meant they were never informed of their “Miranda Rights”.
The attorney shared in a statement, “Many of them have had their athletic careers ended, due to the State of Iowa’s unconstitutional use of GeoComply’s Kibana software. It is our hope that through the civil action we can help these young men put their lives back on track and gain a measure of justice for the violation of their rights.”
The Department of Criminal Investigation had also lost access to the software after its provider discovered that the agency had broken the terms of the agreement.
