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01/15 11:52 CST Former NCAA players and fixers charged over rigged basketball
games, prosecutors say
Former NCAA players and fixers charged over rigged basketball games,
prosecutors say
By MARC LEVY and TASSANEE VEJPONGSA
Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --- A sprawling betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese
Basketball Association games ensnared 26 people, including more than a dozen
college basketball players who tried to fix games as recently as last season,
federal prosecutors said Thursday.
The scheme generally revolved around fixers recruiting players with the promise
of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game,
prosecutors said. The fixers would then place big bets against the players'
teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors, authorities
said.
Concerns about gambling and college sports have grown since 2018, when the U.S.
Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on the practice, leading some states to
legalize it to varying degrees. The NCAA does not allow athletes or staff to
bet on college games, but it briefly allowed student-athletes to bet on
professional sports last year before rescinding that decision in November.
According to the indictment unsealed Thursday, fixers started with two games in
the Chinese Basketball Association in 2023 and, successful there, moved on to
rigging NCAA games as recently as January 2025.
The fixers' scheme grew to involve more than 39 players on more than 17
different NCAA Division I men's basketball teams, who then rigged and attempted
to rig more than 29 games, prosecutors said. They wagered millions of dollars,
generating "substantial proceeds" for themselves, and paid hundreds of
thousands of dollars to players in bribes, prosecutors said, with payments to
players typically ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.
Four of the players charged --- Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Oumar Koureissi and
Camian Shell --- played for their current teams in the last few days, although
the allegations against them do not involve this season.
Calling it an "international criminal conspiracy," U.S. Attorney David Metcalf
told reporters in Philadelphia that this case represents a "significant
corruption of the integrity of sports." The indictment suggests that many
others --- including unnamed players --- had a role in the scheme but weren't
charged, and Metcalf said the investigation was continuing.
Of the defendants, 15 played basketball for Division I NCAA schools during
2024-25 season, prosecutors say. Five others last played in the NCAA in the
2023-24 season while another, former NBA player Antonio Blakeney, played in the
Chinese Basketball Association in the 2022-23 season.
The remaining five defendants were described as "fixers" who recruited players
and placed bets. They include two men who prosecutors say worked in the
training and development of basketball players. Another was a trainer and
former coach, one was a former NCAA player and two were described as gamblers,
influencers and sports handicappers.
One fixer, reassuring another fixer, texted him that there are no guarantees
"in this world but death taxes and Chinese basketball," court papers said.
At the end of the Chinese Basketball Association's 2022-23 season, fixers put
nearly $200,000 in bribe payments and shared winnings from rigged games into
Blakeney's storage locker in Florida, authorities said.
Players also helped fix games by recruiting other players, authorities said. In
many instances, the defendants' wagers on the rigged games were successful.
"The sportsbooks would not have paid out those wagers had they known that the
defendants fixed those games," the indictment said.
The charges, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, include bribery, wire
fraud and conspiracy.
One betting scandal after another has rocked the sports world, where gambling
revenue topped $11 billion for the first three-quarters of last year, according
to the American Gaming Association. That's up more than 13% from the prior
year, the group said.
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 their own performances. And the NCAA has said that at least
30 players have been investigated over gambling allegations. More than 30
people were also charged in last year's sprawling federal takedown of illegal
gambling operations linked to professional basketball.
___
Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press writer Maryclaire
Dale in Philadelphia contributed.
