On November 7, 2017 it was reported that LiAngelo Ball and two other UCLA basketball players, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill,  were arrested for shoplifting at a Louis Vuitton store in China. The UCLA basketball team was in China to play Georgia Tech in the team’s season opener.  The three basketball players, including LiAngelo, were going to miss the game because they were being detained.

The next morning they were released on bail but held under house arrest in the luxury hotel the team was staying. The team returned back to the US after the game but the three teammates that were in this situation had to stay until the police were able to get things straightened out.

The three UCLA basketball players were going to face up to 10 years in Chinese prison for the pair of sunglasses they tried to take without paying. The reason for a huge punishment like this is, because a Louis Vuitton store is a high-end retail store with locations across the globe. It really doesn’t matter what they stole, everything in that store is a high market piece of merchandise.

President Donald Trump heard the news of what had happened to the UCLA players. What he did surprised a lot of people because it is out of the politics. Trump connected with China and told them to free them immediately, says CNN. The next day the boys were freed from China and sent back home to their families and school. Nobody was expecting them to be released that fast because it looked like the odds of prison time were high.

The three basketball players held a press conference to send out their apologies, and to say thank you to president Trump. “I would like to start by saying sorry, for stealing from the store in China. I didn’t exercise my best judgment and I was wrong for that, I apologize to my family, my, coaches, my teammates and UCLA for letting so many people down I also apologize to the people in china for causing so much trouble. I’m a young man, however that is not an excuse for my decision,” said LiAngelo Ball.

The boys have managed to learn a lot from their mistakes and have pledged to think things, through before having to cause another shenanigan.