Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania have indicted 20 males for his or her roles in allegedly fixing college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association video games.
The alleged fixing scheme first targeted on CBA video games, earlier than turning to NCAA video games starting in 2023. The scheme allegedly concerned 17 NCAA groups and concerned at the very least 29 video games. The governing physique stated Thursday that a lot of the knowledge in the indictment was “not entirely new information to the NCAA” because it had already been investigating dozens of present and former gamers.
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One of the lads charged is former NBA participant Antonio Blakeney. He appeared in 76 video games for the Chicago Bulls throughout the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 seasons and was enjoying in the CBA in 2022-2023. Fifteen others are or had been males’s Division I college basketball gamers and 5 different college basketball gamers who’ve been charged elsewhere are additionally talked about in the indictment.
According to the indictment, “a group of individuals worked together to recruit and bribe players to help influence or ‘fix’ Chinese Basketball Association men’s basketball games through ‘point shaving’ during the 2022-23 CBA season. The fixers bribed CBA players to underperform and help ensure their team failed to cover the spread in certain games and then, through various sportsbooks, arranged for large wagers to be placed on those games against that team.”
In one alleged occasion, Blakeney, who was averaging over 30 factors a sport that season, scored simply 11 factors in a blowout win by the Guandong Southern Tigers over his Jiangsu Dragons group. The Tigers had been favored by 11.5 factors and $198,000 was wagered on the group to cowl the unfold.
In one other alleged occasion, Blakeney helped recruit a teammate in alternate for a $20,000 fee to verify the opponent coated the unfold in a sport Blakeney did not take part in.
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Following the alleged CBA scheme, prosecutors allege “the fixers” then “turned their attention to fixing NCAA men’s basketball games” over the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 seasons. This alleged scheme adopted an analogous sample all through, primarily focusing on first-half spreads in mid- to low-level Division I video games. As a strategy to persuade the gamers, “the fixers” would allegedly FaceTime with gamers to debate the scheme and even allegedly present them the money that was at stake.
According to the indictment, Blakeney, Jalen Smith, Marves Fairley, Shane Hennen, Roderick Winkler and Alberto Laureano “would then place wagers on those games through sportsbooks, betting against the team whose player or players they had bribed to engage in this point-shaving scheme. Because of the proliferation of legalized sports betting, the fixers could use numerous sportsbooks to place their bets on these games and conceal the scheme from authorities.”
Prosecutors say the alleged funds to college basketball gamers ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 a sport and there have been efforts to recruit a number of gamers on the identical group to guarantee that a guess would succeed. Players would then allegedly receives a commission in money after their performances.
The scheme allegedly concerned Nicholls State gamers Oumar Koureissi and Diante Smith; Tulane’s Kevin Cross; unnamed gamers on Northwestern State’s group; St. Louis’ Bradley Ezewiro; Shawn Fulcher and Isaiah Adams at Buffalo; Jalen Terry, Da’Sean Nelson and Micawber Etienne at DePaul; and Kennesaw State’s Simeon Cottle, amongst others.
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Cottle is certainly one of 4 lively gamers named in the indictment together with Eastern Michigan’s Carlos Hart, Delaware State’s Camian Shell and Koureissi. All 4 of them have appeared in a sport in current days.
In October, the NCAA stated that it was investigating at the very least 30 present and former males’s basketball gamers for alleged sports activities playing offenses.
“Protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance for the NCAA,” president Charlie Baker said in a statement. “We are thankful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match manipulation in college sports.
“The pattern of college basketball game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement today is not entirely new information to the NCAA. Through helpful collaboration and with industry regulators, we have finished or have open investigations into almost all of the teams in today’s indictment.”
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Prosecutors said that the defendants targeted players “for whom the bribe funds would meaningfully complement or exceed reputable NIL alternatives” and that they’d focus on underdogs who could fail to cover point spreads.
The indictment lists multiple Big East games DePaul was involved in during the early months of 2024. In one instance, Smith allegedly went to Chicago to pay the three named DePaul players and another person $40,000 in cash for the way they affected the first-half line in a game against Georgetown. On Feb. 24, 2024, the Hoyas had a 41-28 halftime lead. The spread at the half was 2.5 points.
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After that Georgetown game, Jalen Smith allegedly texted Etienne, “I really like Jalen Terry he perfected his job.” Terry did not rating in the primary half earlier than he dropped 16 in the second half.
Cottle was the 2025-2026 preseason participant of the 12 months in Conference USA and is at the moment averaging 20.2 factors per sport over 17 video games after scoring 18 factors a sport a season in the past.
Cottle and teammate Demond Robinson allegedly obtained $40,000 for his or her performances in a March 1, 2024, sport towards Queens University. Kennesaw State trailed 52-39 at halftime whereas Cottle went scoreless in the primary 20 minutes. Queens was a 1.5-point first-half favourite.