COLUMBUS (AP) - New allegations that a booster provided money for an Ohio State basketball player and helped devise a ruse to cover it up have surfaced in depositions given as part of a lawsuit involving the program under coach Jim O'Brien.

O'Brien was fired last summer after testimony in the lawsuit revealed he had given $6,000 to a recruit in 1999.

An NCAA investigation of the program continues, although a booster says in his deposition that NCAA investigators didn't ask about the payment or his relationship with the coaching staff during a 5 1/2-hour meeting.

In a deposition relating to the lawsuit, a friend of former Ohio State player Boban Savovic alleges that he gave Savovic money and worked with then-Ohio State assistant coach Paul Biancardi to ease the transition to college for Savovic and other basketball recruits with Serbian backgrounds.

Michael Sierawski befriended Savovic on the day he arrived at the Columbus airport.

Sierawski said he was told by Biancardi to buy clothing for another Serbian, Aleksandar Radojevic, who was recruited by the Buckeyes.