A former agent says that he paid ex-UCLA forward Tyler Honeycutt more than $55,000 from 2009 to 2011, and that Honeycutt eventually signed with another agent.
Noah Lookofsky told SBNation.com that he paid Honeycutt and his mother from the time Honeycutt was about to enter his senior year of high school through his two seasons at UCLA. SB Nation reported it looked through 56 pages of documents that included copies of receipts, deposit slips, travel itineraries and a deposited check, among other items. Lookofsky also said he paid the rent for Honeycutt's mother, Lisa Stazel, for a year after she lost her job.
UCLA said in a statement to SBNation that it was alerted to the possible extra benefits in June 2011 and notified the Pac-12 and NCAA. The school said that after a four-month investigation, neither Lookofsky nor Honeycutt would cooperate and, lacking evidence, it closed the case.
Given the new information, UCLA said it contacted the Pac-12 and NCAA again and that Lookofsky declined to be interviewed.
SBNation said that, despite several attempts, Honeycutt and his mother did not cooperate with its reporting.
Among the items shown to SBNation was a check made out to "cash" that had Honeycutt's signature on it, according to an online printout of the check provided by Lookofsky.
Honeycutt was selected in the second round of the 2011 NBA draft and played in 15 games that season for the Sacramento Kings, averaging 1.3 points. He played in nine games the next season before being cut. Most recently, he played in 2013 in the Israeli Super League.
Lookofsky told SBNation he has no evidence that UCLA administrators or then-coach Ben Howland knew of the relationship.
It is illegal in California for an agent to give money to a student-athlete or a family member. A violation of the law could lead to a $50,000 fine and up to a year in jail.