 In July 2014, OSU confirmed that the NCAA had been investigating the allegations.On October 21, 2014, the NCAA and The Compliance Group, an independent investigation firm led by Charles Smrt, jointly released a statement that the allegations contained in the Sports Illustrated story were "fundamentally unfounded".The NCAA and the investigator had pored over 50,000 emails and had unfettered access to all areas of the compliance department and re-interviewed those who were quoted in the story.