Noah Fries | staff writer

Federal prosecutors charged 26 people, including former and current college basketball players, for involvement in multiple point-shaving schemes, authorities announced on Jan. 15.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania David Metcalf said in a news conference that the scheme stretched across 17 Division I men’s basketball programs and involved 39 players. He alleged that the defendants fixed or attempted to fix 29 games during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.

“We allege an extensive international criminal conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni and professional bettors who fixed games across the country and poisoned the American spirit of competition for monetary gain,” Metcalf said.

According to the indictment unsealed on Jan. 15, five of the “fixers” in the conspiracy are Jalen Smith, from Charlotte, North Carolina; Marves Fairley, from Carson, Mississippi; Shane Hennen, of Las Vegas, Nevada; Roderick Winkler of Little Rock, Arkansas; and Alberto Laureano of New York City, New York.

Another fixer, Antonio Blakeney, from Kissimmee, Florida, was indicted separately on Oct. 17, 2024, on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Blakeney was charged elsewhere, according to court documents.

The scheme, which rigged NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) games, involved fixers promising college basketball players large payments in exchange for intentionally under performing, prosecutors said.

No attorneys were listed for the defendants in court records.

The indictment said that the fixers would then conspire with players and place large bets against their teams in an effort to “defraud various sports books, as well as individual sports bettors and to obtain money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses.”

Duquesne men’s basketball was mentioned in the document because of games involving opposing players from Saint Louis (Feb. 20, 2024) and Fordham (Feb. 24, 2024) who were allegedly participating in game fixing.

“When information was released that 26 current and former college basketball players were involved in illegal gambling activities, Duquesne was mentioned as having games affected,” Duquesne Vice President of Athletics Dave Harper said in a statement. “Many have asked if current or former players at Duquesne were involved in these gambling activities.

“For clarification, we are not aware of and have not been informed of any of our players being involved. Duquesne is extremely diligent with gambling education and the perils associated with gambling activities. Gambling has become very pervasive in college sports, and our department will continue its commitment to protecting and educating our student-athletes.”

According to the indictment, Smith and Blakeney recruited Saint Louis center Bradley Ezewiro and an unnamed player through FaceTime and, in exchange for bribe payments, the players agreed to help ensure that Saint Louis failed to cover the first-half spread in that game.

Duquesne was favored by approximately 5 points, and the fixers placed wagers totaling at least $242,000 on Duquesne to cover the first-half spread. Ezewiro and an unnamed player in the indictment helped ensure that Saint Louis failed to cover, as Duquesne led 41-27 at halftime and the fixers won their wagers.

Saint Louis shot below 45% from the field for the entire game, as Dae Dae Grant scored 31 points for the Dukes in the 81-66 Duquesne victory.

Ezewiro allegedly tried to recruit other players into the scheme, and was eventually told that they needed to “clean up how we text” by defendant Smith — eventually using a “burner” phone to try to conceal the scheme, according to court documents.

“Today we were made aware of the federal indictment of a former men’s basketball student-athlete. The individual referenced was a student at the university during the 2023-24 academic year before transferring to another institution,” Saint Louis said in a statement. “Consistent with our Jesuit identity, we educate students to adhere to the highest level of integrity and ethics in the classroom, in competition and in life.”

The point-shaving scheme with Fordham worked in a similar manner. Smith contacted forward Elijah Gray — charged in a different indictment — and offered him a bribe payment of about $10,000 or $15,000 to underperform in a game against Duquesne. Gray allegedly recruited another unnamed teammate to join the scheme as well.

Duquesne was favored to win by approximately 3.5 points, and defendants Fairly and Hennen placed wagers of at least $195,000 on Duquesne to cover the full-game spread. Both Gray and the unnamed teammate scored less than their season averages, but Fordham won the game 79-67 and the fixers lost their wagers.

Following the game, Gray allegedly contacted Smith and told him “I tried,” before emphasizing that Duquesne players “were not hoopin.’” Smith then allegedly responded, “you did your job for sure.”

Fordham did not respond to a request for comment.

“When criminals pollute the purity of sports by manipulating competition, it doesn’t just imperil the integrity of sports betting markets; it imperils the integrity of sport itself,” Metcalf said.

There were other players, including those who were unnamed in the indictment, that were not charged. Metcalf said that the investigation is still ongoing.

The charges filed against the defendants include bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aiding and abetting.

Each count of bribery on sporting contests would come with a maximum sentence of five years of imprisonment, three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as wire fraud itself, brings a maximum possible sentence of 20 years of imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, if convicted, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website.

In the CBA case, the scheme allegedly started during the 2022-23 season. Fairley and Hennen offered bribe payments to Blakeney, who was a member of the Jiangsu Dragons in the CBA.

Fairley and Hennen wagered hundreds of thousands of dollars against Blakeney and the Dragons, with the defendants offering money to Dragons players who intentionally underperformed in order to help the defendants win their wagers.

After profiting on several fixed CBA games, the defendants would begin to expand their scheme to NCAA men’s basketball games. Fairley, Hennen and Blakeney allegedly recruited Smith, Winkler and Laureano to engage in the scheme as well.

The defendants are accused of wagering at least $3 million on these fixed games, with the indictment noting that 21 of the 29 games involved successful wagers.

Successful wagers resulted in defendants flying out to meet the players who had successfully underperformed and providing them with cash bribes. Most players received between $10,000 and $40,000 for a particular game.

Players who received bribes from the fixers would then try to influence their teammates into joining the scheme. Some would succeed in gathering other unnamed players to run the scheme more effectively, while others would refuse to join, authorities say.

More than 40 schools were involved in games that were affected by the scheme, including schools that are in major conferences like the Big East and the Atlantic 10 — which Duquesne is a part of.

The list of 17 schools that had players allegedly participating in game-fixing include Fordham, La Salle, Robert Morris, Saint Louis and Tulane, among others. Some of the other allegedly targeted teams include Butler, St. John’s, Georgetown and La Salle.

The NCAA bans participation in sports betting and prohibits providing information to anyone associated with sports betting at any level. NCAA President Charlie Baker released a statement following the release of the indictment on Jan. 15. Baker urged student athletes to stay away from sports gambling and game-fixing in order to “avoid jeopardizing the game and their eligibility.”

Baker also called for states and gambling companies to eliminate collegiate prop bets altogether in order to prevent situations like this from occurring again.

“Sports, in many ways, are a microcosm — a metaphor — for American society and our values,” Metcalf said in a news conference. “It means something a great deal to us, and when criminals rig the outcome of games for the purpose to lose, rather than to win, we all lose.”

Noah Fries can be reached at friesn@duq.edu