Former N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried is the first head coach linked to providing impermissible benefits to a player according to court filings in a federal criminal case centered on college basketball corruption, sources have told ESPN.

Gottfried is being accused of giving former Wolfpack star Dennis Smith Jr. two envelopes of cash through assistant Orlando Early during the recruiting process to ensure he would sign with N.C. State. Early was instructed to give the envelopes to Smith's trainer, Shawn Farmer, who was told to relay them to Dennis Smith Sr., the father of the future NBA first-round pick.

Early's attorney made those acknowledgements last month in a sentencing memorandum filed on behalf of former Adidas executive James Gatto, who was sentenced to nine months in prison for payments to families of Kansas recruits.

Early's attorney said in the report his client believes the cash total given to Smith was around $100,000.

Gottfried, now the head coach at Cal State Northridge, provided a statement on the proceedings through his attorney.

"The statement being reported on is false and conflicts with the sworn testimony of the government's lead witness in the trial last fall," Scott Tompsett told ESPN. "Specifically, at trial, T.J. Gassnola testified, under penalty of perjury, that he did not discuss the payment to Dennis Smith with anyone at N.C. State other than one assistant coach. Thus, the statement being reported on as it refers to Mr. Gottfried is not corroborated by a single shred of evidence and it conflicts with the sworn testimony of the government's lead witness at the trial last fall."

Per ESPN:

The first payment, of an unspecified amount, came during Smith's junior year of high school after Andy Miller, who ran the ASM Sports agency, informed Gassnola (former Adidas consultant) that Smith wanted to leave the Adidas grassroots circuit. The second payment came in the fall of 2015, after Early reached out to Gassnola to say there were issues surrounding Smith, who had committed earlier in the fall.

In March 2018, N.C. State released the subpoena in the FBI's investigation into corruption in college sports specifically seeking any communications between members of the N.C. State Athletics staff and Smith's handlers. Gottfried and Early were both named in the subpoena.

Cal State Northridge tweeted that it will cooperate with investigators.

"As part of our hiring process, Coach Gottfried confirmed to CSUN that he had no involvement in, nor knowledge of, any impermissible payments provided to prospective student-athletes during his tenure as a head coach at previous institutions," the school said in a statement early Saturday. "This affirmation is included in his employment documents and is a condition of employment."

N.C. State senior associate athletic director Fred Demarest told ESPN this week the university was unaware of a federal criminal case involving its former head basketball coach.