With Book Richardson set to be sentenced at on Thursday, June 6, 2019, at 11:00 a.m, the government is making its case that he should see up at least 18 months in prison.

In order to build that case, the University of Arizona legal counsel recently wrote a victim impact statement to the government.

The letter outlines the reasons that Richardson is claiming he took money for recruits.

"Emanuel Richardson became an Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at the University of Arizona in 2008," the letter states. "In addition to his duties as a coach on the basketball court, Mr. Richardson devoted a substantial amount of his time at the University to recruiting young student-athletes from across the country.

"The University was unaware at the time but has since come to learn that, in or around 2017, Mr. Richardson was struggling with various financial pressures and family medical concerns.

"When faced with the unethical and dishonest overtures of Christian Dawkins, Munish Sood, and others, Mr. Richardson accepted $20,000 from these individuals. By doing so, Mr. Richardson not only violated his employment agreement with the University, he knowingly betrayed the trust that the institution placed in him to act with honesty, integrity, and with the best interests of the student-athletes at the forefront."

The impact of what Richardson did has had its effect both on and off the court.

"Mr. Richardson’s actions caused real harm to the University of Arizona," the letter says. "His arrest was devastating news to every student, coach, administrator, faculty, staff, trustee, and alum. Occurring as it did immediately before the start of the 2017-18 basketball season, news of the criminal charges against Mr. Richardson caused enormous pain and disruption not only to the University’s men’s basketball team but across the entire campus, as well.

"Mr. Richardson’s actions have caused – and continue to cause – significant damage to the reputation of the University, it’s athletics program, and most specifically to a men’s basketball program that had previously enjoyed a stellar record of success, on and off the court. Several highly regarded student-athletes de-committed from the University upon hearing this difficult news, and the recruitment effort for future players became substantially more challenging.

"Over the past 18 months, there has been a steady stream of unflattering articles and media reports, many of which unfortunately have been false or exaggerated but which, overall, have caused harm and embarrassment to this institution as well as demoralizing a very loyal alumni and fan base in the local community and across the country. The University is also facing the prospect of potentially significant sanctions and penalties from the NCAA flowing from the unlawful actions involved in this case."

Arizona is in the process of completely cooperating with the NCAA and has cooperated with the government in the past as well.

"We have responded to trial and grand jury subpoenas and provided extensive records to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and provided whatever assistance we could to support the Government’s efforts to investigate and prosecute the charged criminal conduct," the letter states.

"The University has also hired outside legal counsel at significant expense to conduct internal reviews and investigations, and to guide the institution through an investigation by the NCAA Enforcement staff, which is just now getting underway in the aftermath of the criminal trial.

"As we have to date, we intend to fully cooperate with the NCAA, to be transparent, and to provide whatever assistance may be necessary for the Association to fully ascertain the actions of Mr. Richardson and determine the extent to which NCAA rules and bylaws may have been violated. The University has been, and will continue to be, zealous in our efforts to maintain a culture of integrity and compliance on our campus and within our athletics program."

Lastly, and more important, Richardson recently met with Arizona's outside counsel.

"It should be noted that, based on all the information presently known to us, we believe that none of the $20,000 in funds paid to Mr. Richardson was ever paid to any student-athlete or prospective student-athlete," the letter says.

"Additionally, Mr. Richardson recently met with the University’s principal outside counsel and me and expressed his remorse, acceptance of responsibility, and the recognition that his failure of judgment caused significant harm to the University community, as well as to himself and his family. We appreciated his openness, candor, and gesture of goodwill."