Smfh
www.nbcnews.com
At least two dozen charged in connection with sweeping basketball game fixing scandal
College basketball games in America and pro hoops contests in China were the target of the extensive FBI probe, officials said.
At least two dozen charged in connection with sweeping basketball game fixing scandal
College basketball games in America and pro hoops contests in China were the target of the extensive FBI probe, officials said.
www.nbcnews.com
At least two dozen charged in connection with sweeping basketball game fixing scandal
College basketball games in America and pro hoops contests in China were the target of the extensive FBI probe, officials said.
Federal prosecutors secured indictments against more than two dozen people accused of rigging college basketball games in America and pro hoops contests in China, according to court papers unsealed in Philadelphia on Thursday.
The suspects face a slew of charges that include alleged bribery in sports, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aiding and abetting.
The suspects include several former college basketball players: Alberto Laureano, Arlando Arnold, Simeon Cottle, Kevin Cross, Bradley Ezewiro, Shawn Fulcher, Carlos Hart, Markeese Hastings, Cedquavious Hunter, Oumar Koureissi, Da'Sean Nelson, Demond Robinson, Camian Shell, Dyquavion Short, Airion Simmons and Jalen Terry.
Trainers Jalen Smith and Roderick Winkler and “high-stakes sports gamblers” Marves Fairley and Shane Hennen were also named in the indictments.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said "the integrity of sport itself and everything that sports represent to us, hard work, determination and fairness" was threatened by these defendants.
"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 on Thursday.
Fixers “engaged in a point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on more than 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams who then fixed and attempted to fix more than 29” games for millions of dollars in bets, the indictment said.
The fixed games include contests in China and players in the U.S. who manipulated contests involving Nicholls State, Tulane, Northwestern State, Saint Louis, LaSalle, Fordham, Buffalo, DePaul, Robert Morris, Southern Miss, North Carolina A&T, Kennesaw State, Coppin State, New Orleans, Abilene Christian, Eastern Michiganand Alabama State.
The defendants fixed or tried to fix the final scores of 29 games in what could be the most sweeping college basketball scandal since 1951 CCNY
Prosecutors say the alleged sports gambling conspiracy began in September 2022 when the defendants first started to bribe players in the Chinese Basketball Association to engage in “point shaving,” when someone is paid to manipulate a game’s final margin of victory and not necessarily the win-loss outcome.
Fairley and Hennen initially targeted Antonio Blakeney, who was playing for the CBA’s Jiangsu Dragons at the time and was not named in this indictment, prosecutors said.
Blakeney, who had played for LSU, “agreed to participate in the scheme and then recruited other players from Jiangsu,” according to court papers.
In a March 6, 2023, game, Blakeney’s 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.
