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 No such thing Leasing manager denies claims of payoffs to UNLV player
Posted: Friday March 19, 1999 07:08 PM
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The manager of an auto leasing company has denied that cash payments were made on behalf of a UNLV basketball player by a former student manager. Mike Hattery of Las Vegas Auto Leasing said the only payments his company received for the lease on Tyrone Nesby's car were made in person by Nesby or by mail. "The only payments I got were from Tyrone or in the mail," Hattery told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I think Tyrone came in once. He didn't introduce himself, but everybody [in the office] said that was Tyrone Nesby." Mike Viellion, a 20-year-old sophomore, has said that UNLV associate head coach Glynn Cyprien took money from his pocket and gave it to him with instructions to make payments on Nesby's car. Viellion said Hattery was mistaken and that he would not change his story. Hattery said the leasing company is a fully-owned subsidiary of the Findlay management group, which is headed by Cliff Findlay, a former UNLV player and prominent booster. Findlay said he has no way of knowing who made the payments, but resented any the implication that 'because I'm a booster, I supply cars [to players]." "If Tyrone Nesby had a car from us, I'm sure he bought it. I don't even know what kind of car he had," Findlay said. According to Hattery, Nesby had two -- a 1995 Saturn and a 1992 Honda Accord -- though not at the same time. Viellion said he made cash payments of $300 to $400 on Nesby's Honda with money handed to him by Cyprien. Nesby, now with the Los Angeles Clippers, told KLAS-TV that he gave Cyprien money to pay his car payments a few times because the team was leaving town for road games or for other reasons. He said Cyprien told him he would forward the money to Viellion to make the payments. Viellion also said Cyprien let center Kaspars Kambala use Viellion's car to run some errands while Viellion was out of town. Kambala crashed and totaled the 1995 Ford Thunderbird, and Viellion said he feels he hasn't been adequately compensated for the loss of the car. Cyprien has denied the claims, saying he was never in a position to lend Kambala the car.
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