A former manager of the Jackson Five...

A former manager of the Jackson Five pop group testified in Chicago that indicted sports agent Norby Walters and a reputed New York mobster tried to muscle their way into a planned concert tour.

Walters and Lloyd Bloom are accused of defrauding seven major universities by signing athletes to representation contracts before their college eligibility had expired, and of using cash to persuade the athletes to sign contracts, concealing the contracts from the universities, and threatening the players with physical harm if they tried to back out of the deals.

Ron Weisner, who represented the music group in the early 1980s, said he repeatedly refused overtures from Walters to join the Jackson Five tour as booking agent.

Meanwhile, former Notre Dame football players Alvin Miller and the Houston Oilers’ Robert Banks testified that they accepted thousands of dollars in cash from Walters and Bloom for agreeing to have the agents represent them.

Additionally, former Notre Dame football player Alvin Maurice Miller testified that the two signed him to a representation contract in 1986 while he was still eligible to play college football, which is against NCAA rules.