He arranged for the detective he spoke with, to end up dead.

It was a big deal. It might not seem that way now because the athlete crashed hard pretty fast, but at the time he was A list. A big star. He was involved in a very high profile rape case. This would bring his career down even more quickly than it did. One of his associates who also was involved in the rape case had been talking to a detective about the case without the athlete's knowledge.