The saga of LiAngelo Ball and his two UCLA teammates Cody Riley and Jalen Hill continues to unfold. Earlier this week it was reported that the three players had tried to steal sunglasses from a Louis Vutton store in China but as it turns out they actually tried to steal from several different high-end boutiques during their trip.
Via ESPN’s Arash Markazi
The three players — freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill — were questioned about allegedly stealing sunglasses from a Louis Vuitton store next to the team’s hotel in Hangzhou, where the Bruins had been staying before leaving for Shanghai on Tuesday. They were released on bail early Wednesday morning and have been staying at a lakeside hotel in Hangzhou since then while the team had been in Shanghai preparing for Saturday’s game.
A source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation said the players could be in Hangzhou for “a week or two.” The source noted that there is surveillance footage of the players shoplifting from three stores inside of a high-end shopping center, which houses Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Salvatore Ferragamo stores.
Thankfully for Ball and his teammates there are several business interests in the background working hard to ensure that these boys get back home with minimal jail time.
During the investigation, the school and Pac-12 Conference have been receiving assistance from Chinese e-commerce goliath Alibaba, the presenting sponsor of the Pac-12 China Game.
Ball and company are lucky becauSE it sounds like they deserve far worse punishment that they will end up actually getting.
