Ex-Colorado athletics employee admitted to misusing Nike funds year before arrest

The former University of Colorado athletics department employee who is facing theft and embezzlement charges in Boulder admitted to misusing Nike funds at the school four months before his hiring as the chief financial officer of USA Swimming in December 2025, according to an internal university audit report obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

The former employee, Cory Randall Hilliard, 54, is facing three criminal counts related to his administration of the university’s Nike Elite program, which provides athletic department employees with funds to purchase Nike merchandise.

“I did it. I admit it,” Hilliard told the university’s audit department on July 30, 2025, according to the internal audit report.

The audit report was dated Aug. 7, 2025. Hilliard left his job at the university the same month, according to his LinkedIn account. He later was hired as the CFO of USA Swimming in December 2025. He then resigned from USA Swimming after his arrest on these charges in August 2026, one year after the audit report.

Hilliard is accused of overspending his Nike gear allotment by $9,500 from fiscal year 2022 through the fiscal year ending in June 2025. Any admission to the university’s audit department is not the same as…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/sports/