Reggie Bush was target of NCAA’s case against USC

The NCAA’s case against USC largely centered on the relationship between Trojans running back Reggie Bush and would-be sports marketers Michael Michaels and Lloyd Lake.

Bush’s mother, brother and stepfather had lived in a San Diego-area home owned by Michaels. The NCAA determined that Michaels and Lake provided Bush and his family with cash and other benefits, including free rent, in hopes that the USC star would become a client in a proposed agency.

The NCAA’s investigation also found that Mike Ornstein, who eventually did represent Bush and remains in marketing, provided the family with airline tickets, limousine service and other benefits.

Bush reached a settlement with Michaels in 2007, reportedly for more than $200,000. In 2010, Bush settled out of court with Lake, who was reportedly seeking nearly $300,000.

Michaels works for the Sycuan Indian tribe. Lake is identified as a San Diego music producer in an online video produced to raise financing for a documentary about the deaths of rappers Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace. Ornstein has a sports marketing agency.