Dozens charged in sports bribery scheme involving US university basketball players

US prosecutors have charged 26 people in an alleged scheme designed to enrich sports gamblers, involving university basketball players.

The scheme allegedly involved 39 players, and 17 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's basketball teams attempting to fix or fixing 29 US games, and two Chinese Basketball Association games.

"This was a massive scheme," US Attorney David Metcalf told reporters during a news conference on Thursday. "It enveloped the world of college basketball."

The charges come on the heels of a separate case of sprawling illegal betting schemes involving National Basketball Association (NBA) personalities and the New York mafia.

The indictment alleges that from September 2022 to February 2025 the individuals influenced or fixed NCAA games as well as Chinese Basketball Association men's basketball games.

Prosecutors accused gamblers of placing bets on games in which players purposefully underperformed. Fixers would then bet against the players' teams, leading to large payouts. Bribes could range between $10k and $30k a game, said Metcalf.

Prosecutors said that sometimes, it didn't work.

"In basketball, one player could substantially influence a game in ways that in other sports you cannot, but it's not a guarantee," Metcalf said. "But, by and large, the scheme was very successful."

NCAA President Charlie Baker later said the organization has finished or opened investigations into nearly all the teams named in the indictment.

"The pattern of college basketball game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement today is not entirely new information to the NCAA," Baker said in a statement.

Investigators said the teams allegedly impacted include: Abilene Christian, Alabama State, Butler, DePaul, Duquesne, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Fordham, Georgetown, Kennesaw State, Kent State, La Salle, McNeese State, Nicholls State, Ohio University, St. Louis University, St John's, SUNY Buffalo, Tulane and Western Michigan University.

Some of the teams responded that their mention in the indictment was because of allegations made against a team they played.

Tulane University, one of the schools named, said it would cooperate with authorities "where appropriate" after a former student athlete was charged in the indictment, according to CBS News, the BBC's US news partner.

Kent State said that it appeared in the indictment because of allegations made against another team, CBS reported.

Other schools said they would fully cooperate with officials.

The scheme began when former Chicago Bulls player Antonio Blakeney allegedly collaborated with two professional sports bettors, Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley, to fix Chinese Basketball Association games, before the betting moved to the US, Metcalf said.

"They picked these men because they were well connected in the world of college basketball," Metcalf said. "They knew the players, many of them were players themselves, they were alumni, they were trainers, they were recruiters, they were networkers, they were people of influence, and because of that influence, they added gravitas and legitimacy to the scheme."

The indictment comes two months after the FBI announced they were investigating two alleged schemes into illegal sports betting and allegedly rigged, mafia-linked poker games.

Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were among those named. Both men deny the allegations.

Both Hennen and Fairley were charged in the NBA indictment as well.