TMZ Sports is reporting that the FBI has requested an interview with John Bond, the former Mississippi State quarterback who went on record this week regarding Cam Newton and a request by a third party for cash in exchange for his commitment to an SEC school.
Bond’s attorney confirmed with TMZ that a request for an interview had been made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation had been made.
Bond’s attorney confirms to TMZ Sports that the FBI has requested a sit-down meeting with his client — and tells us the agent who contacted him said, “We are interested in whether young men are being shopped to colleges.”
There’s not an established date for the interview. Newton, the player who is the focus of the investigation, remains eligible to play this weekend against Georgia, and Auburn’s AD Jay Jacobs and Gene Chizik have in separate statements supported Newton publicly as being guilty of no wrongdoing.
Despite this outward stance of calm solidarity, the intervention of the FBI in the case is a dramatic ramp-up in intensity even if the agency is merely sight-seeing. If there was any doubt as to the seriousness of the affair at this point, the presence of men with FBI badges in the middle of the drama should erase that with a swiftness.