NCAA enforcement director Julie Roe Lach approved the disbursement of up to $25,000 to attorney Maria Elena Perez in 2011 for information in its Miami infractions investigation, a source told ESPN's Joe Schad.
CBSSports.com and USA Today initially reported the sum as between $20,000 and $25,000. It is not clear how much of that approved sum Perez received.
Perez, the attorney of Miami booster Nevin Shapiro, has denied any wrongdoing and has said she did not work in collusion with NCAA investigators.
On Jan. 24, ESPN reported that a source familiar with the arrangement said the NCAA vice president of enforcement and general counsel approved the plan.
The next day, NCAA president Mark Emmert denied the general counsel had approved the arrangement but made no mention of the vice president of enforcement. The NCAA also has not identified Perez by name.
Emmert had said on a teleconference that the general counsel would typically be required to approve such action but that it didn't reach his desk.
The NCAA, which is conducting an external review of what it called "improper conduct" by its enforcement arm, said Tuesday that it has nothing further to say about the payment.
"Whether or not Julie approved [the action], it will be part of the external review process," NCAA spokesman Bob Williams told CBSSports.com. "However, the review is solely focused on enforcement."
The NCAA has said its enforcement staff worked with Shapiro's defense attorney to obtain information improperly through a bankruptcy proceeding that did not involve its investigation of Miami. The NCAA did not name the attorney, but Perez told the South Florida Sun Sentinel she did not collude with NCAA investigators.
"I think this is completely insane," Perez told the newspaper. "I think there's absolutely nothing here to investigate, and like I told everyone, everything I did was above board."
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