Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced point-shaving charges on Thursday against more than a dozen former college basketball players, spanning mid-major programmes throughout the nation in arguably the biggest NCAA gambling scandal in 75 years.
A Philadelphia grand jury unsealed a sweeping indictment against 20 Division I college basketball players, many of whom competed over the last three seasons. In total, the former student athletes engaged in a point-shaving scheme that involved more than 17 NCAA Division I teams, covering nearly 30 men’s basketball games, according to prosecutors.
Two alleged fixers, Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley, were already also facing charges in Brooklyn in connection with a highly publicised match manipulation scheme that has rocked the NBA. A third defendant, former Chicago Bulls guard Antonio Blakeney, was charged in Thursday’s indictment with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Blakeney also allegedly assisted several co-conspirators in rigging several games in the Chinese Basketball Association, according to the indictment.
The defendants engaged in a vast “international criminal conspiracy”, said David Metcalf, US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, representing a “significant” threat to the “integrity of sports”. The ringleaders placed millions of dollars of bets involving games that had been fixed, Metcalf emphasised. Players were allegedly paid off to underperform in the games so that their teams would not cover point spreads.
Philadelphia connection
Metcalf announced the indictments while joined by FBI Co-Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, who said that the arrests underscore the agency’s “unwavering commitment” to protecting the American people and the “institutions they trust”.
“To those who choose corruption and betrayal: we will find you, we will investigate you, and we will hold you accountable,” he said.
Their press conference at the federal building in Philadelphia was held several miles from LaSalle University. While prosecutors did not name a single player from the school as involved, they cited a February 2024 game between LaSalle and St Bonaventure for suspicious activity.
That contest was one of 29 games covered in the 70-page indictment, beginning with a February 2024 game between McNeese State and Nicholls State in Louisiana. The final game noted, on 11 January 2025, was a 91-71 loss by the University of New Orleans to Southeastern Louisiana.
Down in the Bayou
Prosecutors cited four New Orleans games, beginning with a loss to Lamar in the 2024 Southland Conference tournament. Three former members of the team, Cedquavious Hunter, Dyquavion Short and Carlos Hart, were charged on Thursday. The NCAA previously declared Hunter and Short permanently ineligible after an internal investigation determined that they engaged in match fixing.
In the Gulf Coast region, former players from Tulane, Nicholls State, Southern Mississippi and Alabama State were also named in the indictment. In the Northeast, the indictment covers former players from Buffalo, Robert Morris and Fordham. Da’Sean Nelson, a former DePaul forward, is also accused of rigging a game in 2024 after he transferred to Eastern Michigan. Jalen Terry, his co-defendant, allegedly fixed games as a member of both teams.
Hennen is also facing charges in Brooklyn in separate illegal sports betting and rigged poker cases. A Las Vegas resident, Hennen lived in Philadelphia from 2021 to 2023, according to a private dossier obtained by iGB.
Heavy wagering on Chinese basketball
Beginning in September 2022, a group of individuals worked together to recruit and bribe players to fix a series of Chinese Basketball Association games, according to prosecutors. Two of the defendants, Fairley and Hennen, offered bribes to Blakeney when he was playing in China in order to influence the outcome of games, the indictment states.
Blakeney, a former LSU guard, spent parts of three seasons with the Chicago Bulls before he joined the Jiangsu Dragons of the CBA. He led the league in China in scoring in 2022-23 with 32.1 points per game.
In a game against the Guangdong Southern Tigers on 6 March 2023, however, Blakeney only scored 11 points. The Tigers won 127-96, easily covering an 11.5-point spread. Fairley, Hennen and others working at their direction placed large wagers to profit from numerous sportsbooks, including at least $198,300 in wagers with BetRivers Sportsbook in Philadelphia, the indictment reads. Blakeney allegedly recruited a Dragons teammate to participate in the scheme.
Weeks later, in a text message with a co-conspirator, Hennen wrote that nothing is guaranteed in life but “death, taxes and Chinese basketball”, according to the indictment. In the same month, Fairley allegedly placed a package in Blakeney’s Florida storage unit that contained nearly $200,000 in cash, according to prosecutors.
The scheme moves to the US
Blakeney is alleged to have used his basketball connections afterward to recruit Division I players to fix NCAA games. He allegedly helped recruit two Nicholls State players, Oumar Koureissi and Diante Smith, as well as former Tulane forward Kevin Cross.
On 18 February 2024, East Carolina covered the point spread when it defeated Tulane 81-67. Another defendant, Roderick Winkler, allegedly delivered $30,000 to Cross soon afterward for his participation.
The players who helped ensure a winning outcome for the fixers usually received payments from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, the indictment states.
Another player indicted, Kennesaw State guard Simeon Cottle, opened this season as the Conference USA Player of the Year. Cottle, who is averaging a team-high 20.2 points per game, is facing charges of bribery in sporting contests and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Baker on integrity
In a statement released on Thursday, NCAA President Charlie Baker said that “protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance” for the association. The indictments came one day after Baker sent a letter to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission calling for a blanket prohibition on prediction market trading on collegiate sports.
Notably, former Temple guard Hysier Miller was not named in the indictments. The NCAA declared Miller permanently ineligible in November after an investigation found that he placed 42 impermissible wagers on Temple basketball, mostly on small bets that totalled $473.
Although the NCAA accused Miller of placing three bets against Temple, the former Owls guard has said he does not recall betting against his team. Last November, Jason Bologna, Miller’s attorney, told iGB that the NCAA did not find evidence that his client had shaved points.
In the NCAA’s most serious prior point-shaving case, a 1951 investigation centred on a number of New York City schools, most notably the City College of New York. All told, 35 players from seven colleges admitted to accepting bribes in exchange for rigging games. All 35 were permanently banned from the NBA.
Metcalf stopped short of comparing the two cases, but he described Thursday’s indictments as “historic” in scope.
“The stakes here are far higher than anything on a bet slip,” Metcalf said. “It’s another blow to public confidence in the integrity of sport, which rests on the fundamental principles of fairness, honesty and respect for the rules of competition.”
Matt Rybaltowski
Matt is primarily responsible for long-form feature coverage on complex sports betting scandals. He also provides coverage on finance, M&A and other technological developments.
Ringleaders bet millions in the past few years on NCAA games that were fixed by paying off players, prosecutors allege.