On December 7, 2010, Ohio State was notified by the Department of Justice that it had in its possession many items of Ohio State sports memorabilia seized from Edward Rife's tattoo parlor. In the ensuing investigation, Tressel was questioned by Ohio State on December 16 concerning his knowledge of the activities disclosed by the Justice Department (the sale of rings, jerseys, and football memorabilia to Rife). Tressel denied any specific knowledge of the violations, and claimed that he could not remember who had given him the vague information. A week later Tressel exchanged text messages with Cicero, the attorney who had originally notified him of the activities back in April. Tressel verified that the Justice Department matter involved the same players and issues as the April e-mails. Tressel remained silent, his long-time knowledge of the violations (and his subsequent intentional fielding of ineligible players throughout the season) was only revealed when Ohio State inadvertently discovered the April 2010 Cicero e-mails in an unrelated search in January 2011.