Iowa State Players’ Attorney Files Motion Claiming Warrantless Probe

Last year, a dozen Iowa State and Iowa athletes were subject to an investigation that uncovered alleged participation in gambling activities, including wagers on their own team and underage gambling. While some of the athletes pleaded guilty, they faced different charges depending on their involvement in gambling activities, something that is prohibited.

Now, Van Plumb, an attorney representing Isaiah Lee along with other Iowa State football athletes, filed a motion on Monday, alleging issues with the depositions of the agents from Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). He claimed that an agent from the DCI engaged in a “warrantless” investigation which ultimately resulted in the charges against a number of professional athletes, as announced by WHO 13.

According to depositions on January 19, 2024, Brian Sanger, a special agent with the DCI, was granted access to Kibana, an analytics software tool that enabled him to analyze online sports wagering applications used in a specific area, surrounded by “GeoFence.” This, the recent motion claims, was a warrantless search on Iowa and Iowa State’s campuses.

When Sanger was asked why he engaged in such actions he reportedly said he didn’t remember. Yet, according to the motion, he was concerned about the potential possibility of individuals “infiltrating” Iowa’s professional sports team in order to obtain insider information which could then be used for match-fixing.

“Special Agent Brian Sanger was given access to a tool that can invade people’s privacy,“

reads the motion filed by Van Plumb

Sports Betting Probe Initiated without Tip or Complaint

The motion explained that the special agent engaged in the “warrantless search,” without receiving prior any information, complaints or tips about possible underage gambling incidents. Using Kibana, Sanger was allegedly able to see that there were online betting applications used at the dorm of the University of Iowa, but he wasn’t able to uncover whether there was any wagering activity. When he asked the DCI’s assistant director and supervisor, Sanger was told he could not investigate this further, the motion claims.

After that, the special agent allegedly focused on the University of Iowa’s athletic facility “because it was a stand-alone facility with restricted access to athletes, coaching staff and support personnel.” Similar to the first probe, this one was also allegedly conducted without first receiving any tips, complaints or warrants regarding illegal gambling taking place at this facility.

Once the special agent uncovered information regarding this particular facility, he requested approval from the DCI’s assistant director who greenlighted an investigation. “Without reasonable cause the team of Special Agents targeted more facilities as well as began requesting subpoenas to obtain account information on hundreds of private citizens private information which was also without reasonable cause,” explained the motion filed by Plumb recently.