FILE This file combo of images shows, from left, amateur basketball league director Merl Code, former Adidas executive James Gatto, and business manager Christian Dawkins. A federal appeals court in New York, Friday, Jan. 15, 2020, upheld convictions Code, Gatto and Dawkins in a college basketball scandal that spoiled the careers of several coaches. (AP Photo/File)NEW YORK – A federal appeals court in New York on Friday upheld convictions against a sports marketer, an aspiring agent and a financial adviser in a college basketball scandal that spoiled the careers of several coaches and left a stain on the integrity of college athletics. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said in its written decision that it was not adequate for the defendants to argue that their actions mirrored what was commonly done in college basketball programs and that their aim was to help universities, rather than harm. The convictions grew from the 2017 arrests of 10 individuals in what authorities described as a conspiracy to pay bribes to the families of young players to ensure NBA-bound college basketball stars would pledge allegiance to certain agents and handlers or attend certain schools.