US Department of Justice Charges 26 People

The US Department of Justice has filed charges against 26 people in connection with an alleged basketball bribery and point-shaving scheme. The charges relate to attempts to fix NCAA Division I men’s basketball games and Chinese Basketball Association games.

“Over the past two years, the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office led an investigation into a point-shaving and sports-bribery conspiracy resulting in the indictments announced today,” FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey said during Thursday’s press conference announcing the charges.

As alleged in the indictment, the scheme was led by “fixers” Jalen Smith, Marves Fairley, Shane Hennen, Antonio Blakeney, Roderick Winkler, and Alberto Laureano.

The indictment alleges that, beginning in or about September 2022, a group of individuals, including defendants Fairley and Hennen, worked together to recruit and bribe players to help influence the outcomes of Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) men’s basketball games through point shaving. CBA players were paid to underperform and help ensure their team failed to cover the spread in certain games. The fixers placed large wagers on those games against that team.

During the 2022-2023 CBA season, the indictment further alleges, the fixers, including Fairley and Hennen, recruited defendant Blakeney, then a player on the CBA’s Jiangsu Dragons and one of the league’s leading scorers, for their point-shaving scheme. Blakeney agreed to participate in the scheme. He then recruited other players from his team to join the plan. They worked together with the fixers to influence the outcome of the Jiangsu games.

At the conclusion of the CBA regular season, the indictment alleges that defendant Fairley left a package containing nearly $200,000 in cash in Blakeney’s storage unit in Florida. That payout represented both bribe payments and proceeds from the scheme.

The point-shaving schemes also included NCAA games

Following the conclusion of the CBA season, the fixers turned their attention to NCAA men’s basketball. According to the indictment, nearly 40 players from different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams then fixed, or attempted to fix, nearly 30 NCAA games. The fixers made wagers totaling millions of dollars on those games, generating substantial proceeds for the fixers and the players. The players involved also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribe payments for fixing their teams’ basketball games.

Payments to players to fix games ranged between $10,000 and $30,000.

“This was a massive scheme,” US Attorney David Metcalf told reporters during Thursday’s press conference. “It enveloped the world of college basketball.

“The stakes here are far higher than anything on a bet slip. The criminal charges we have filed allege the criminal corruption of collegiate athletics through an international conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni, and professional bettors.”

Schools listed in the indictment include Abilene Christian, Alabama State, Butler, DePaul, Duquesne, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Fordham, Georgetown, Kennesaw State, Kent State, La Salle, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Ohio University, St. Louis University, St John’s, SUNY Buffalo, Tulane, and Western Michigan University.

It should be noted that some of the schools on this list are only connected to the scandal because they were the unknowing opponent in a game that was being fixed by players on the other team.

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