A wide-ranging, multi-year scheme to fix men’s basketball games in the NCAA and China’s professional league had several ties to Philadelphia, federal investigators announced as they revealed the charges Thursday.
The indictment, unsealed before a press conference held at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philly, outlined a variety of multi-national schemes to impact the games from February 2024 to January 2025, including a “point shaving” operation in which players were bribed to underperform, with bettors casting wagers against the point spread of the game.
Indictment_Smith Et Al by WHYY News Digital
The players received hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribe payments for their part and the fixers wagered millions of dollars on the impacted games.
“This was a scheme that spanned three years and eventually enveloped 17 NCAA Division I men’s programs, 29 games and dozens of college athletes in fixed games,” said David Metcalf, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
29 Games Map by WHYY News Digital
Twenty-six people were charged based on the FBI’s investigation — 20 players and six “fixers.” The players include former college All-American and Chicago Bulls guard Antonio Blakeney, who now plays for Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C.
Blakeney had previously played in the Chinese Basketball Association for the Jiangsu Dragons and the Nanjing Monkey Kings. He is also alleged to have helped recruit other college players into the scheme.
Among the more than 39 players allegedly involved, Blakeney and 20 others were charged in the case. Some are still student-athletes and some are playing professional basketball abroad. Metcalf said that some of the people charged in the case are already in custody.
“The leaders of this conspiracy we allege were successful because of their connections in the college basketball world,” Metcalf said. “And it varied, both formally and informally. They were players, they were recruiters. They were trainers.”
That list of teams included Philly’s own La Salle University, in the game against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 21, 2024 — though, according to the indictment, the conspiracy around a La Salle game failed and the bettors lost almost $250,000. That sum included a $30,000 wager made at FanDuel Sportsbook at Live! Casino in Philadelphia.
“Neither the university, current student-athletes, or staff are subject of the indictment,” the university said today in a statement. “We will fully cooperate as needed with officials and investigations.”
Former La Salle forward Mac Ettienne, who played last season with the Explorers, is among the players charged with bribery in sporting contests. That allegation, though, is related to his time at another school, DePaul University, and a game against St. John’s University on March 5, 2024, in Chicago.
Many of the college players allegedly involved were from lower-profile basketball programs. Metcalf said they were targeted by fixers who preyed on the fact the players were not receiving the lucrative NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) compensation that college athletes receive at big-time programs.
“The crimes alleged in today’s indictment are not victimless,” said Wayne Jacobs, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Philadelphia. “This was a calculated scheme designed to manipulate outcomes, deceive fans, corrupt athletes, and undermine credibility of the leagues and institutions.”
Bets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars were placed at Rivers Casino in Philadelphia, the indictment said. Much of that is tied to “Sugar” Shane Hennen, a high-stakes and high-profile gambler, who has been charged with bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud as well as three counts of wire fraud.
Rivers Casino declined to comment when contacted about the indictment.
Hennen, a former Philly resident who now lives in Nevada, was charged last fall in a different case that included NBA player Terry Rozier by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Rozier was accused of sharing confidential information about injuries and underperforming to influence NBA game results. The case against Rozier, former Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and others differs from the one that originated out of Philly today, Metcalf said.
“The individuals in that case were making wagers on insider information — for example, injuries — to make money based on insider information,” he explained. “But there is a really important difference between wagering on predicted outcomes [based] on insider information and wagering on determined outcomes, outcomes that you control. The former is a crime against sports betting markets. The latter is a crime against the sport itself, and that’s what this case is about. That’s what makes it different and, in my opinion, worse.”
A statement issued by NCAA president Charlie Baker said that some of the conduct highlighted in today’s indictment was “not entirely new information” to the organization, and they had open or completed investigations on almost all of the teams. Baker added that the NCAA enforcement staff had opened investigations into around 40 student-athletes from 20 schools in the past year.
“While some of the investigations are ongoing, 11 student-athletes from seven schools were recently found to have bet on their own performances, shared information with known bettors, and/or engaged in game manipulation to collect on bets they — or others — placed,” Baker’s statement read. “This behavior resulted in a permanent loss of NCAA eligibility for all of them. Additionally, 13 student-athletes from eight schools (including some of those identified above) were found to have failed to cooperate in the sports betting integrity investigation by providing false or misleading information, failing to provide relevant documentation and/or refusing to be interviewed by the enforcement staff. None of them are competing today.”
In November, the NCAA deemed former Temple guard Hysier Miller permanently ineligible after determining he placed 42 bets totaling $473 over two seasons, including wagers against the Owls.
