Interestingly, this isn't the NCAA uncovering cheating. If I understand this correctly (and I may not), it's the feds using the NCAA rules against taking money, to criminalize arrangements that would otherwise be legal.
So if an athlete was paid to sign with a school for the consideration of working with an agent, that would be fine. But because the NCAA won't allow athletes to get paid, that arrangement can't happen, but coaches still want the athletes, and agents still want the athletes, and the athletes want money. So the schools use the agents as middlemen, and essentially create that arrangement that everyone wants, but without getting caught up in NCAA rules. The NCAA doesn't care, as evidenced by their awful enforcement regime, but they do like to look like they're doing something whenever something explodes badly enough.
At some point, someone in the US government became irritated enough with the under the table arrangement going through University employees, to want to crack down on it, or so it would seem.
Super Bonus observation: Makes LaMelo Ball look a lot smarter, not that you care.