20 College Basketball Players Indicted in Federal Point-Shaving Case

In the second sweeping federal indictment targeting the most pervasive point-shaving scandal in North American sports history, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Thursday announced the indictments of 20 recent men’s college basketball players from 17 schools for allegedly attempting to fix games via performance manipulation in the 2023–24 and ’24–25 seasons. Officials say 39 players from 17 teams attempted to fix 29 games. The feds also filed charges against six other people associated with the scheme, including former NBA player and college standout Antonio Blakeney and individuals who worked as personal trainers or AAU coaches.

According to the federal indictment, the scheme began with attempts in the 2022–23 season to fix games in the Chinese Basketball Association. Blakeney is alleged to have been recruited by scheme organizers previously identified by Sports Illustrated, Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley, to shave points while playing in the CBA. Blakeney’s lawyer, Sami Azhari, declined comment on his client’s involvement in the point-shaving scandal.

From there, the feds say, the three men enlisted others with connections to players to launch a game-fixing operation in college basketball. They primarily targeted players on losing teams at lower-level NCAA Division I programs. They allegedly recruited players at these 17 schools to fix point spreads for the first halves or entire games:

Abilene Christian
Alabama State
Buffalo
Coppin State
DePaul
Eastern Michigan
Fordham
Kennesaw State
La Salle
New Orleans
Nicholls State
North Carolina A&T
Northwestern (La.) State
Robert Morris
Saint Louis
Southern Mississippi
Tulane

Authorities also charged Jalen Smith of Charlotte; Roderick Winkler of Little Rock, Ark.; and Alberto Laureano of the Bronx with bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.

The indictment alleges these “fixers” used a network of trainers, an AAU coach and two former Division I players to recruit current college basketball players in a point-shaving scheme. They allegedly paid players between $10,000 and $30,000 per game to fix their performances. The gamblers then used that information to place large bets on first-half and full-game spreads.

The 20 college basketball players charged Thursday are:

Isaiah Adams, Buffalo
Arlando Arnold, Southern Mississippi
Simeon Cottle, Kennesaw State
Kevin Cross, Tulane
Micawber Etienne, DePaul
Bradley Ezewiro, Saint Louis
Shawn Fulcher, Buffalo and Alabama State
Elijah Gray, Fordham
Carlos Hart, New Orleans
Markese Hastings, Robert Morris
Corey Hines, Alabama State
Cedquavious Hunter, New Orleans
Oumar Koureissi, Nicholls State
Da’Sean Nelson, DePaul and Eastern Michigan
Demond Robinson, Kennesaw State
Camian Shell, North Carolina A&T
Dyquavion Short, New Orleans
Airion Simmons, Abilene Christian
Diante Smith, Nicholls State
Jalen Terry, DePaul and Eastern Michigan

According to court records, Terry was arrested in his hometown of Flint, Mich., on Thursday.

Most of the 20 players who were charged have been out of college basketball since at least the end of last season. But Cottle—who allegedly fixed Kennesaw State’s March 1, 2024, first-half performance vs. Queens in exchange for $40,000—played in all 17 of Kennesaw State’s games this season up to this point. On Wednesday night, Cottle played a team-high 39 minutes in a win against Florida International. He is the Owls’ leading scorer at 20.2 points per game.

Kennesaw State says in a statement to SI that “Cottle has been suspended indefinitely from all team activities.”

Three other players charged also played for their new teams as recently as the past week.

Hart, charged for his alleged involvement in game-fixing at New Orleans, scored nine points in 34 minutes for Eastern Michigan on Tuesday. Eastern Michigan says in a statement to SI that it was not aware of game-fixing allegations during Hart’s recruitment and “he has been immediately suspended from all team activities.”

Shell, allegedly involved in the scheme while at North Carolina A&T, scored 11 points in 27 minutes for Delaware State on Saturday. North Carolina A&T denied any involvement in wrongdoing in a statement to SI.

Koureissi, charged for alleged game-fixing while at Nicholls State, scored four points in 12 minutes Saturday for Texas Southern. Texas Southern tells SI on Thursday at Koureissi “has been removed from the team.”

The 29 allegedly compromised games span 11 months and two college basketball seasons:

Nicholls State vs. McNeese State, Feb. 17, 2024
Tulane vs. East Carolina, Feb. 18, 2024
Northwestern State vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Feb. 19, 2024
Saint Louis vs. Duquesne, Feb. 20, 2024
La Salle vs. St. Bonaventure, Feb. 21, 2024
Fordham vs. Duquesne, Feb. 23, 2024
Buffalo vs. Western Michigan, Feb. 24, 2024
DePaul vs. Georgetown, Feb. 24, 2024
Buffalo vs. Kent State, Feb. 27, 2024
Robert Morris vs. Northern Kentucky, Feb. 28, 2024
Southern Mississippi vs. South Alabama, Feb. 28, 2024
Southern Mississippi vs. Louisiana, March 1, 2024
Kennesaw State vs. Queens University of Charlotte, March 1, 2024
Tulane vs. Florida Atlantic, March 2, 2024
DePaul vs. Butler, March 2, 2024
Coppin State vs. South Carolina State, March 4, 2024
Buffalo vs. Ohio, March 5, 2024
DePaul vs. St. John’s March 5, 2024
Robert Morris vs. Purdue-Fort Wayne, March 5, 2024
New Orleans vs. Lamar, March 11, 2024
Abilene Christian vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, March 19, 2024
Abilene Christian vs. Tarleton State, March 20, 2024
North Carolina A&T vs. Towson, March 29, 2024
Eastern Michigan vs. Oakland, Nov. 21, 2024
Alabama State vs. Southern Mississippi, Dec. 5, 2024
Eastern Michigan vs. Wright State, Dec. 21, 2024
New Orleans vs. McNeese State, Dec. 28, 2024
New Orleans vs. Vanderbilt, Dec. 30, 2024
New Orleans vs. Southeastern Louisiana, Jan. 11, 2025

The indictments indicate that the scheme was even more widespread. There are 19 former players who are alleged to have been involved but are “known to the grand jury.”

U.S. Attorneys did not explain why the 19 were not charged, but it is possible that it is because prosecutors believe at least some of those players testified truthfully to the grand jury. It is also possible that prosecutors decided the evidence against some of those players was not strong enough to indict them. For example: A former Abilene Christian player is identified as “Person #15” in the indictment. But Abilene Christian’s Simmons allegedly told Blakeney, “that Person #15, whom defendant Simmons had recruited for the game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, did not perform poorly as he had agreed.”

The breakdown of the 19:

Three players from New Orleans
Two players from each of the following schools: Northwestern State, Robert Morris, Southern Miss, Alabama State
One from North Carolina A&T, St. Louis, Fordham, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Kennesaw State, Coppin State, Abilene Christian

NCAA president Charlie Baker has advocated repeatedly for the elimination of prop bets on the individual performances of college players. He met last week with NBA commissioner Adam Silver to discuss that issue, among other topics.

“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, but we still need the remaining states, regulators and gaming companies to eliminate threats to integrity—such as collegiate prop bets—to better protect athletes and leagues from integrity risks and predatory bettors. We also will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement. We urge all student-athletes to make well-informed choices to avoid jeopardizing the game and their eligibility,” Baker said in a statement Thursday.

While the federal indictment is vast in scope, it still does not touch upon all known cases that the NCAA has been investigating.

The NCAA announced in September sanctions against 12 players and infractions cases involving 16 players from seven schools. Sources tell SI that more than a dozen NCAA gambling-related investigations remain ongoing.

“While the facts and alleged behaviors in each case vary, they include student-athletes betting on and against their own teams, sharing information with third parties for purposes of sports betting, knowingly manipulating scoring or game outcomes and/or refusing to participate in the enforcement staff's investigation,” the NCAA stated in its release in September.

The first domino was when the NCAA permanently banned three players—Fresno State’s Mykell Robinson and Jalen Weaver and San Jose State’s Steven Vasquez who transferred there from Fresno—for point shaving and impermissible betting on games during the 2024–25 season. None was indicted Thursday.

Then, the NCAA found that former Arizona State player B.J. Freeman instructed his then-girlfriend to place bets on his performance, but told her to wager on the “overs” on his statistical totals. Freeman also provided information to others to bet on his performances. Freeman was dismissed at Arizona State for “conduct detrimental to the team” in late February 2025. It was subsequently reported that he was transferring to Central Florida, but Freeman never joined the team. The NCAA permanently banned him after its investigation. Freeman was not part of Thursday’s federal indictments.

Former Eastern Michigan players Nelson and Terry were sanctioned for refusing to cooperate with the NCAA investigation into suspicious first-half betting on a game in January 2025. Nelson and Terry were among those indicted Thursday. A third former Eastern Michigan player, Jalin Billingsley, also was sanctioned by the NCAA but was not part of the indictments. All three have exhausted their collegiate eligibility.

In the Mississippi Valley State infractions case, former players Donovan Sanders and Alvin Stredic were found to have committed Level I NCAA violations. According to the infractions report, Sanders discussed “throwing the game” against Tulsa in December 2024 on the phone, according to an unnamed teammate. The report says, “Sanders asked ‘Student-Athlete 1’ to get on the phone with the unknown individual because the individual wanted to know that Sanders had another teammate who would participate in the scheme, as the unknown individual was placing a bet.” Gambling compliance monitoring services also found unusual wagering on Mississippi Valley State’s game against Alabama A&M on Jan. 6, 2025. Neither player nor the games involved were named in Thursday’s federal case, but both received permanent NCAA bans.

New Orleans players Hunter and Short, who were indicted Thursday, were found by the NCAA to have manipulated their performances in multiple games in exchange for money during the 2024–25 season. Gambling compliance monitoring services noted suspicious wagering on five Privateers games last season—against McNeese State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Southeastern Louisiana, Incarnate Word and East Texas A&M. New Orleans was 1–4 in those games, beating only East Texas A&M. The players were dismissed from the team in February ’25 and permanently banned from NCAA competition. Jamond Vincent also was banned by the NCAA, but was not indicted. Vincent told Good Morning America in November that he was “money hungry” and needed “fast cash” to support his newborn.

The NCAA has not publicly identified the players involved in their investigations at North Carolina A&T and Temple.

North Carolina A&T suspended three players last January for what it termed a violation of team rules, including top scorers Landon Glasper and Ryan Forrest. When asked at the time whether the suspensions were related to the gambling probe, head coach Monte Ross told SI via phone, “That is not accurate,” and hung up.

Suspicions about corruption in the college game first spilled into public view in March 2024, when suspicious wagering was flagged on the UAB at Temple game. The first-half spread of that game jumped enough in UAB’s favor to garner the attention of gambling regulators, who issued an alert to casinos and shut down wagering on the game. The Blazers led Temple 47–32 at halftime, easily covering the first-half spread. Other Temple games from the 2023–24 season came under scrutiny as well.

Later in 2024, Temple leading scorer Hysier Miller became a target of multiple probes into the Owls. His transfer to Virginia Tech was nullified by the Hokies, who dropped him from the team before the ’24–25 season. He played professionally in ’24–25 in Germany.

In November, the NCAA announced Miller was found to have placed 39 impermissible sportsbook bets on Temple and three against the Owls, totaling approximately $473, between Nov. 7, 2022, and March 2, 2024. (Temple lost at home to Wagner on the first of those dates, and at home to Tulsa on the last of them. The NCAA found no point shaving or game fixing on the part of Miller. Neither Miller nor Temple were named in the federal indictments.

These indictments follow the October arrests of 34 people in New York in connection with illegal wagering on NBA games and rigged poker games. Those arrests included three current or former NBA players—Terry Rozier of the Miami Heat, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former player and assistant coach Damon Jones—plus dozens of individuals with Mafia ties. The crossover suspects in the two cases are Hennen and Fairley.

Rozier, Billups and Jones have each pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The October indictments, part of what FBI director Kash Patel called “a wide-sweeping criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra,” rocked pro basketball. Six were indicted for a scheme to rig performances and share inside information in NBA games; 28 for a case in which the Mafia allegedly rigged poker games; and three for both cases.

In the case involving NBA games, a grand jury indicted Rozier and Jones alongside Rozier’s friend Deniro Laster, Eric Earnest, Hennen and Fairley. Hennen was arrested in January 2025 and has been negotiating a plea deal.

Billups was not indicted in that case—but “Co-Conspirator 8” is described in the indictment as a resident of Oregon who was “an NBA player from approximately 1997 through 2014, and an NBA coach since at least 2021.” That describes Billups, who was placed on leave by the Trail Blazers and remains away from the team.

The indictment alleges that Co-Conspirator 8 “told the defendant Eric Earnest that the Trail Blazers were going to be tanking [i.e., intentionally losing] to increase their odds of getting a better draft pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Co-Conspirator 8 told Earnest, before the news was publicly announced, that several of the Trail Blazers’ best players, including Player 1, an individual whose identity is known to the Grand Jury, would not be playing in the March 24 Game” against the Bulls. The gambling ring then allegedly wagered “approximately $100,000” against the Trail Blazers. Portland lost, 124–96.

According to New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch, before a game between the Hornets and Pelicans on March 23, 2023, when Rozier was on Charlotte’s roster, Rozier “allegedly let others close to him know that he planned to leave the game early with a supposed injury. Using that information, members of the group placed more than $200,000 in wagers on his ‘under’ statistics.”

Rozier, who started the game, played only nine minutes, 34 seconds.

Prior to these cases, federal prosecutors charged five people with illegal wagers on the performances of former NBA player Jontay Porter. Four of them—Porter, Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah and Long Phi “Bruce” Pham—have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A fifth defendant, Ammar Awawdeh, has been indicted for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. Awawdeh has been negotiating a plea agreement since at least March 2025, according to joint filings between his attorney and U.S. attorneys in the Eastern District of New York.

The allegation against Rozier is virtually the same as what Porter admitted to in court. Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after rigging his own performance to ensure the under on prop bets would win. Porter said during his plea hearing that he did it “in order to get out from under large gambling debts accumulated over time.” Authorities have said one of the people Porter owed significantly gambling debts to was Awawdeh, who was indicted in that case and has been negotiating a plea deal. Awawdeh was also indicted for his alleged role in the poker scheme.

The second case in the October indictments involved rigged poker games. According to Patel and the Justice Department, four of the New York Mafia’s five families were involved in the scheme: the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese families. They say the perpetrators used poker chip tray analyzers, special contact lenses or eyeglasses, and an X-ray table to dupe players out of hundreds of thousands of dollars—and that Billups and Jones were in on the scheme. Former professional boxer Curtis Meeks also was indicted.

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