From left, Nevin Shapiro, Sean Allen and UM assistant basketball coach Jake Morton party in 2009. Photo courtesy of Nevin Shapiro's lawyer, Maria Elena Perez

While Nevin Shapiro was handing out small amounts of cash like candy to the University of Miami’s star football players, the Hurricanes booster was sinking a much larger sum — $1.5 million — into a budding sports agency fittingly called Axcess.

Axcess was hoping to sign many of those same athletes as clients and score huge fees on multimillion-dollar pro contracts.

Now his dual roles, as team sugar daddy and unlicensed sports agent, hang over the university like an anvil that is about to come crashing down on UM’s storied football program.

It’s a bigger deal than if the UM donor had just been secretly passing out goodies — Shapiro says he picked up the tab for booze, hookers and party voyages on his yacht (named after the sports agency) — in exchange for the chance to pal around with players.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is soon expected to issue a formal “notice of allegations” detailing Shapiro’s and the university’s recruitment violations.