Federal prosecutors unsealed a stunning indictment Thursday that charged 26 people over a massive illegal point-shaving scheme. Authorities say the conspiracy involved at least 39 college basketball players across 17 NCAA Division I schools and rigged at least 29 games over two seasons.
U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced the charges at a news conference in Philadelphia, describing the scandal as “the most serious college gambling case we have had in three or four generations.”
“We allege an extensive international criminal conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni and professional bettors who fixed gains across the country and poisoned the American spirit of competition for monetary gain,” Metcalf said. “This was a massive scheme. It enveloped the world of college basketball.”
The indictment claims that sports bettors paid bribes ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game to players who deliberately underperformed to ensure their teams did not cover point spreads. The scheme allegedly ran from September 2022 through February 2025.
Twenty of the 26 defendants charged are former college basketball players. The charges include alleged bribery in sports, 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.
The scheme was allegedly orchestrated by high-stakes sports gamblers Shane Hennen, 40, and Marves Fairley, 40, who first recruited former NBA player Antonio Blakeney while he was playing in the Chinese Basketball Association during the 2022-23 season.
Blakeney, 29, a former LSU All-American, allegedly agreed to participate in fixing Chinese basketball games and recruited other players. In one game, Blakeney scored just 11 points despite averaging 32 points per game that season, allowing bettors to win on a $198,300 wager.
After the Chinese season ended, Fairley allegedly placed nearly $200,000 in cash into Blakeney’s Florida storage unit as payment. The scheme proved so successful that Hennen texted a confederate: “Nothing gu[a]rantee[d] in this world but death[,] taxes[,] and Chinese basketball.”
The conspirators then turned their attention to NCAA basketball, recruiting former players, trainers and coaches to identify and bribe current college players. Prosecutors said the fixers strategically targeted players at smaller schools who were not earning significant money through name, image and likeness deals.
The bettors placed massive wagers on the fixed games, including approximately $458,000 on one game and $424,000 on another, according to the indictment.
Among those charged are several former DePaul players who allegedly agreed to underperform in three games during the 2024 season. In one game, a player scored zero points in the first half before scoring 16 in the second half. The fixers paid $40,000 in cash to four players the day after that game, prosecutors said.
Four current college basketball players named in the indictment have played for their teams in the past week, though the allegations stem from previous seasons or schools. Kennesaw State and Eastern Michigan have suspended players indefinitely pending the outcome of the case.
NCAA President Charlie Baker said the organization has opened or completed betting integrity investigations into approximately 40 players from 20 schools over the past year.
“Protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance for the NCAA,” Baker said. “We are thankful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match manipulation in college sports.”
The scandal is the latest gambling controversy to rock American sports. Hennen and Fairley also face charges in a separate NBA gambling scheme announced last October.
Sports gambling has exploded since the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban in 2018. Now there’s some form of legalized sports betting in 40 states and the District of Columbia.