LSU is investigating whether star running back Leonard Fournette's family violated NCAA rules with a website business, and an LSU attorney has begun speaking with individuals that were associated with the online venture, according to USA Today.
Baton Rouge (La.) attorney Bob Barton is representing LSU in the matter, per the report.
Paul Price, a Fournette family associate, reportedly paid $10,000 to launch the project. The site was to have been an online store for "BUGA Nation" merchandise, a name associated with Fournette, who had been the No. 1 running back recruit in the nation. Fournette's mother, Lory, told USA Today the site was shut down within 24 hours of its opening in September of 2014.
As an NCAA student-athlete, neither Fournette nor members of his family are permitted to benefit from his name, image, or likeness, and the Fournette family maintained the site did not depict Leonard Fournette in any such way. Courts have heard arguments about that NCAA rule in recent months in the controversial Ed O'Bannon case, named for the former UCLA basketball star. For now, the rule has been upheld.
Fournette, a sophomore who has rushed for 1,383 yards this season, is a leading candidate for the Heisman Trophy. A game-worn Fournette jersey sold as part of an auction package Monday for $101,000 to benefit South Carolina flood victims. The NCAA granted special permission for the auction to be held.
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