26 Charged in Massive NCAA Basketball Bribery Scheme: 39 Players, 29 Fixed Games, Millions Wagered

Federal prosecutors unsealed charges Thursday against 26 individuals in what authorities are calling one of the most extensive sports bribery conspiracies in college basketball history, involving 39 players across 17 NCAA Division I teams who allegedly fixed or attempted to fix 29 games over a three-year period.

The sprawling investigation revealed a sophisticated operation where gamblers paid college athletes between $10,000 and $30,000 per game to intentionally underperform, allowing fixers to place bets against those teams and reap substantial profits. The scheme, which began with Chinese Basketball Association games in 2022 before expanding to American college basketball, wagered millions of dollars and generated hundreds of thousands in bribes.

"This was a massive scheme," U.S. Attorney David Metcalf told reporters during a Philadelphia news conference. "It enveloped the world of college basketball."

From International Games to College Courts

The conspiracy began around September 2022, initially focusing on fixing Chinese Basketball Association games before making the calculated shift to NCAA basketball during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

Former Chicago Bulls player Antonio Blakeney allegedly collaborated with professional sports bettors Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley to fix Chinese Basketball Association games while playing for the Jiangsu Dragons. The success of that operation prompted the group to expand into American college basketball, where they could exploit financially vulnerable players at mid-major and smaller Division I programs.

"They picked these men because they were well connected in the world of college basketball," Metcalf explained. The fixers recruited individuals with influence in the college basketball ecosystem, including former players, alumni, trainers, recruiters, and networkers who could access current athletes and add legitimacy to their schemes.

The indictment, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, describes an operation where fixers identified players at lesser-known programs who were not earning substantial Name, Image and Likeness compensation and offered them significant cash payments to compromise game outcomes.

The Mechanics of the Scheme

The scheme generally revolved around fixers recruiting players with the promise of big payments in exchange for purposefully underperforming during games. Those fixers would then place substantial bets against the players' teams, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors while generating substantial proceeds for themselves.

Payments to players typically ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, with some players receiving multiple payments for participating in several fixed contests throughout a season.

The sophistication of the operation is evident in the wagering patterns prosecutors uncovered. According to the indictment, bets included approximately $458,000 on Towson to beat UNC A&T, roughly $424,000 on Kent State to cover the first-half spread against Buffalo, $275,000 on South Alabama to cover the first-half spread against Southern Miss, and $256,000 on other contests.

"In basketball, one player could substantially influence a game in ways that in other sports you cannot, but it's not a guarantee," Metcalf acknowledged. Some alleged attempts to fix games were unsuccessful for various reasons, including players who didn't cooperate with the scheme or failed to make games go according to plan.

Teams and Players Implicated

The list of affected programs spans conferences and geographic regions, highlighting the scheme's broad reach. Teams with players alleged to have participated include 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.

Additionally, investigators identified Abilene Christian, Butler, Duquesne, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Georgetown, Kent State, McNeese State, Ohio University, St. John's, SUNY Buffalo and Western Michigan University as being impacted by the scheme, either through players on their rosters or games involving opponents whose players were compromised.

Four players charged in the indictment—Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Oumar Koureissi and Camian Shell—played for their current teams in the last few days, though the allegations against them do not involve the current season. Cottle, the preseason Conference USA Player of the Year who was averaging 20.2 points for Kennesaw State, has been suspended indefinitely. Eastern Michigan suspended Hart from all team activities pending the outcome of the case.

Specific Cases Reveal Operation Details

The indictment provides detailed accounts of specific game-fixing attempts that illuminate how the scheme operated.

Tulane forward Kevin Cross was accused of taking a bribe of approximately $30,000 to keep Tulane from covering the spread in a 2024 game against East Carolina. Cross was also accused of discussing an attempt to fix a later game against Florida Atlantic, though that attempted fix was unsuccessful.

DePaul players Tremell Terry, Troy Nelson and Jonathan Etienne allegedly accepted payments to underperform in a February 24, 2024 game against Georgetown, with additional payments for losses against Butler and St. John's designed to benefit gamblers.

Former Kennesaw State guard Demond Robinson was charged alongside Cottle, with the indictment alleging that one of the fixers sent them a picture of approximately $100,000 in cash ahead of Kennesaw State's game against Queens University on March 1, 2024. Cottle, Robinson and an unnamed third person received $40,000 for their alleged participation.

NCAA Response: Not Entirely New Information

NCAA President Charlie Baker acknowledged that the pattern of game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement was not entirely new information to the organization. The NCAA has been conducting parallel investigations independent of the FBI probe.

Baker stated that the NCAA enforcement staff has investigated approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year, with cases overlapping with the FBI's investigation involving almost all the teams named in Thursday's indictment.

The organization has taken aggressive enforcement action, with every player found guilty of intentionally altering their statistics to affect game lines and outcomes receiving lifetime bans. The count heading into Thursday stood at 11 players banned for life, a number expected to rise following the unsealing of the federal case.

"The Association has and will continue to aggressively pursue sports betting violations in college athletics using a layered integrity monitoring program that covers over 22,000 contests," Baker said in a prepared statement.

Baker also called on states, regulators and gaming companies to eliminate threats to integrity, specifically advocating for the elimination of collegiate prop bets and halftime wagers that create opportunities for manipulation and expose athletes to predatory bettors.

University Responses Vary

Individual universities named in the indictment responded with varying degrees of acknowledgment and commitment to cooperation.

Tulane University said it would cooperate with authorities "where appropriate" after Cross, a former student athlete, was charged. Kent State indicated it appeared in the indictment because of allegations made against another team rather than its own players. Ohio University explicitly stated that none of its players, coaches or staff were involved in the alleged scheme, clarifying that people involved allegedly wanted SUNY Buffalo players to ensure their team didn't cover the point spread for the first half of a game against Ohio in 2024.

Other schools issued statements pledging full cooperation with law enforcement and NCAA investigations while suspending implicated players from team activities pending case outcomes.

Charges and Potential Penalties

The varying charges against the 26 defendants include bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aiding and abetting. The bribery charges carry a maximum sentence of five years, while the fraud charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 20 years.

Five defendants were described as fixers—three with connections to players through coaching and training, and two described as gamblers and sports handicappers. Twenty of the 26 defendants played college basketball during the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 seasons.

Blakeney, the former LSU star and Chicago Bulls player, was named but not charged in the main indictment and has been charged separately in an undisclosed case. Attorneys for some defendants indicated they were reviewing the indictment, while others did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Metcalf indicated that the investigation remains ongoing, with the indictment suggesting many others, including unnamed players, had roles in the scheme but were not charged at this time.

The Gambling Context: A Growing Crisis

Concerns about gambling and college sports have grown since 2018, when the US Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on sports betting, leading states to legalize it to varying degrees. The NCAA does not allow athletes or staff to bet on college games, though it briefly allowed student-athletes to bet on professional sports last year before rescinding that decision in November.

The college basketball point-shaving scandal emerges amid a broader crisis of sports gambling integrity. One betting scandal after another has rocked the sports world, where gambling revenue topped $11 billion for the first three quarters of last year, up more than 13 percent from the prior year, according to the American Gaming Association.

The indictment follows a series of NCAA investigations that led to at least 10 players receiving lifetime bans this year for bets that sometimes involved their own teams and performances. More than 30 people were also charged last year in a sprawling federal takedown of illegal gambling operations linked to professional basketball.

NBA journeyman was arrested in October and accused of conspiring with gamblers to pass on insider knowledge for wagers. Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were arrested in November and accused of working with gamblers to bet on individual pitches they threw during games.

Both Hennen and Fairley, central figures in the college basketball scheme, were also charged in the NBA-related indictment, illustrating the interconnected nature of illegal sports gambling operations across different leagues and levels of play.

"Poisoned the American Spirit of Competition"

Calling it an "international criminal conspiracy," Metcalf emphasized that the case represents "significant corruption of the integrity of sports". The U.S. Attorney's characterization of the scheme as having "poisoned the American spirit of competition for monetary gain" reflects the profound impact on public trust in college athletics.

The scandal strikes at fundamental assumptions about amateur athletics and fair competition. College basketball, with its March Madness tournament and passionate fan base, represents one of American sports' most beloved institutions. The revelation that dozens of games over multiple seasons were potentially compromised undermines confidence in outcomes and raises questions about how many other contests may have been affected but remain undetected.

For mid-major programs that lack the resources and scrutiny of power conference schools, the vulnerability to such schemes appears particularly acute. Players at smaller schools, often without significant NIL opportunities, face financial pressures that make them targets for sophisticated gambling operations offering substantial immediate payouts.

Looking Ahead: Systemic Challenges

The scope and duration of the scheme—operating from 2022 through January 2025 before being disrupted—raises uncomfortable questions about detection capabilities and the effectiveness of existing integrity monitoring systems.

While the NCAA's layered integrity monitoring program covers over 22,000 contests, the fact that dozens of games were allegedly compromised over three years suggests gaps in real-time detection. The reliance on post-facto investigation, often triggered by betting pattern anomalies reported by sportsbooks, means games are played and results stand even when suspicions arise.

Baker's call for elimination of collegiate prop bets and halftime wagers addresses one vulnerability, as these markets create specific opportunities for individual players to influence outcomes without necessarily affecting final game results. However, the broader challenge of protecting financially vulnerable student-athletes from sophisticated gambling operations with substantial resources remains formidable.

As prosecutions proceed and the NCAA continues its investigations, the college basketball community confronts fundamental questions about how to preserve competitive integrity in an environment where legal sports betting generates billions in revenue while creating powerful incentives for corruption.

For the 26 individuals charged, the legal process will determine individual culpability and consequences. For college basketball as an institution, the challenge of rebuilding trust and implementing effective safeguards has only just begun.