during the university of michigan basketball scandal the big ten conference, national collegiate athletic association, federal bureau of investigation, internal revenue service, and united states department of justice investigated the relationship between the university of michigan, its men's basketball teams and basketball team booster ed martin. the program was punished for ncaa rules violations, principally involving payments booster martin made to several players to launder money from an illegal gambling operation. it is one of the largest incidents involving payments to college athletes in american collegiate history. it was described as one of the three or four worst violations of ncaa bylaws in history up to that time by the ncaa infractions committee chairman and the largest athlete payment scandal ever by espn.