Federal prosecutors secured indictments against 26 people accused of rigging college basketball games in America and pro contests in China, according to court papers unsealed Thursday in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
The suspects face charges that include alleged bribery in sports<\/a>, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aiding and abetting.<\/p>\n U.S. Attorney David Metcalf <\/a>said the dozens accused \u201cperpetrated a transnational criminal scheme to fix NCAA Division I men\u2019s basketball games as well as professional Chinese Basketball Association games.\u201d <\/p>\n Those charged include several former college basketball players: Alberto Laureano, 24; Arlando Arnold, 24; Simeon Cottle, 21; Kevin Cross, 25; Bradley Ezewiro, 23; Shawn Fulcher, 22; Carlos Hart, 23; Markeese Hastings, 25; Cedquavious Hunter, 22; Oumar Koureissi, 24; Da’Sean Nelson, 23; Demond Robinson, 25; Camian Shell, 23; Dyquavion Short, 20; Airion Simmons, 25; Jalen Terry, 24; Corey Hines, 23; Diante Smith, 25; Antonio Blakeney, 29; Isaiah Adams, 24; Micawber Etienne, 24; and Elijah Gray, 22.<\/p>\n Trainers Jalen Smith, 30, and Roderick Winkler, 31, and \u201chigh-stakes sports gamblers\u201d Marves Fairley, 40, and Shane Hennen, 40, were also named in the indictments.<\/p>\n The ‘integrity of sport’ under threat <\/p>\n Metcalf said “the integrity of sport itself and everything that sports represent to us \u2014 hard work, determination and fairness” \u2014 were threatened by the defendants.<\/p>\n “We allege an extensive international criminal conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni and professional bettors who fixed gains across the country and poisoned the American spirit of competition for monetary gain,” Metcalf told reporters Thursday. <\/p>\n Fixers \u201cengaged in a point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on more than 17 different NCAA Division I men\u2019s basketball teams who then fixed and attempted to fix more than 29\u201d games for millions of dollars in bets, the indictment says.<\/p>\n The allegedly fixed games include contests in China and involved players in the U.S. who, the indictment says, manipulated or tried to manipulate contests involving Nicholls State, Tulane, Northwestern State, Saint Louis, LaSalle, Fordham, Buffalo, DePaul, Robert Morris, Southern Mississippi, North Carolina A&T, Kennesaw State, Coppin State, New Orleans, Abilene Christian, Eastern Michigan and Alabama State, the indictment says.<\/p>\n Alleged effort to fix 29 college games in two seasons<\/p>\n The defendants are accused of fixing or trying to fix the final scores of 29 games in what could be the most sweeping college basketball scandal since the 1951 point-shaving scheme involving several New York City schools<\/a>, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n Prosecutors say the alleged conspiracy began in September 2022 when the defendants started to bribe players in the Chinese Basketball Association to engage in \u201cpoint shaving,\u201d when someone is paid to manipulate a game\u2019s final margin of victory and not necessarily the win-loss outcome.<\/p>\n Fairley and Hennen initially targeted Blakeney, who was playing for the CBA\u2019s Jiangsu Dragons, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n Blakeney, who had played for LSU, \u201cagreed to participate in the scheme and then recruited other players from Jiangsu,\u201d according to court papers.<\/p>\n Scheme had roots in China, prosecutor says<\/p>\n In a March 6, 2023, game, Blakeney\u2019s Dragons were 11.5-point underdogs to the Guangdong Southern Tigers. Fairley and Hennen bet $198,3000 via BetRivers Sportsbook on the favorites to cover that spread, authorities said.<\/p>\n Blakeney, who averaged 32 points per game that season, scored just 11 in that contest, leading to a 127-96 spread-covering win for the Tigers.<\/p>\n \u201cBlakeney underperformed in and influenced the game as he and the fixers had agreed,\u201d the indictment says.<\/p>\n The indictment cited other games Blakeney is alleged to have fixed. <\/p>\n In April 2023, after the CBA season, Fairley \u201cplaced a package into Antonio Blakeney\u2019s storage unit in Florida, which contained nearly $200,000 in cash, representing bribe payments and proceeds from the fixed CBA games,\u201d according to the indictment.<\/p>\n The scheme moved to U.S. college basketball games during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, prosecutors said, as Blakeney is alleged to have \u201cagreed to recruit NCAA players who would accept bribe payments,\u201d court papers said.<\/p>\n Payments \u201cranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game\u201d were made to the American college players, court documents said.<\/p>\n The players and the games targeted in the alleged scheme tended to be at lesser-known programs, though defendants Terry, Nelson and Etienne are alleged to have taken dives for DePaul, a school in the powerful Big East Conference, the indictment says.<\/p>\n The Blue Demons played poorly by design in a Feb. 24, 2024, game against Georgetown and accepted more payments to underperform in losses against Butler and St. John’s that benefited gamblers, the indictment said.<\/p>\n There were alleged attempts to buy off players from Saint Louis, LaSalle and Fordham, members of the Atlantic 10 Conference, generally considered one of the best leagues outside the traditional powerhouses, the Big East, the Big 12, the Big Ten, the ACC and the SEC.<\/p>\n Fixers ‘very successful’ but not bulletproof, prosecutors said<\/p>\n The effort to rig a LaSalle-St. Bonaventure game on Feb. 21, 2024, was among the few failures of the scheme, prosecutors said. The fixers offered unnamed LaSalle players “bribe payments to underperform in and influence the first half” of that game, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n The gamblers bet $247,000 on the Bonnies to win the first half by at least 5.5 points, but LaSalle was on top, 36-28, at intermission, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n It wasn’t clear in the indictment whether players refused to intentionally underperform or just failed in efforts to throw the first half. A spokesperson for Metcalf declined to elaborate.<\/p>\n “Neither the university, current student-athletes, or staff are subjects of the indictment,” LaSalle said in a statement. “We will fully cooperate as needed with officials and the investigation.”<\/p>\n And in another instance of a rare losing bet, gamblers had hoped Gray would scuttle his own Fordham Rams in a Feb. 23, 2024, game against the Duquesne Dukes, who were 3.5-point favorites, the indictment says. Gray, who averaged 8.4 points per game that season, scored just 3 points that day, but Fordham pulled off a 79-67 upset, according the indictment.<\/p>\n “I tried,” Gray is alleged to have said in a text message to one of the alleged ringleaders, Jalen Smith, who was remarkably sympathetic to the player who failed to fail enough.<\/p>\n “You did your job for sure,” Smith texted, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n “There’s nine other players on the court, there’s coaches and there’s referees,” Metcalf said, according to court papers. “Now in basketball, one player could substantially influence a game in ways. In other sports, you cannot. But it’s not a guarantee. But by and large, the scheme was very successful.” <\/p>\n The sweeping FBI investigation is the latest gambling scandal to rock high-level U.S. sports.<\/p>\n NBA journeyman Terry Rozier was arrested Oct. 23<\/a> and accused of conspiring with gamblers to pass on insider knowledge for wagers.<\/p>\n Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz<\/a> were arrested in November and accused of working with gamblers to bet on individual pitches <\/a>they threw during games.<\/p>\n Sports gambling relatively new to betting stage<\/p>\n Sports gambling, once illegal in every state other than Nevada, has been taking off since the Supreme Court<\/a> in 2018 struck down a federal law that required states to ban betting on games<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now there\u2019s some form of legalized sports betting in 40 states and the District of Columbia<\/a>.<\/p>\n The proliferation of sports betting and payments to college athletes \u2014 for their names, images and likenesses (NIL) \u2014 has made an environment that makes match fixing possible, according to Metcalf.<\/p>\n “I will say that the evidence in this case shows that the monetization of college athletics and athletics generally … furthered the enterprise in this case,” said Metcalf, a former Princeton soccer player.<\/p>\n “But it’s complicated, right? I mean, as we allege in the indictment, certain players were targeted because they were somewhat missing out on NIL money.” <\/p>\n Indicted players still on some rosters<\/p>\n Most of the players named in the indictment played NCAA Division I basketball and completed their eligibility in the past year or two. But a handful are still playing. <\/p>\n Cottle is the leading scorer for Kennesaw State, averaging 20.2 points per game.<\/p>\n “Kennesaw State University is aware of the reports involving men\u2019s basketball student-athlete Simeon Cottle and former student-athlete Demond Robinson,” the school said in a statement. “Cottle has been suspended indefinitely from all team activities.”<\/p>\n Hart is averaging 13.1 points per game at Eastern Michigan and has been suspended from the team, according to a school statement<\/a>. The alleged conduct happened before Hart arrived, and the school said it was not aware of the probe when it recruited him.<\/p>\n Shell is on the roster of Delaware State<\/a>, and Koureissi has played in six games this season for Texas Southern<\/a>. Representatives for those schools could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday. <\/p>\n