Federal Prosecutors Charge 26 People for Allegedly Fixing College Basketball Games in Widespread Conspiracy
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Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced Thursday that at least 26 people were charged in an alleged “criminal transactional scheme” to fix NCAA Division I men’s basketball games and Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) professional games.
Prosecutors say the participants bribed CBA players “to underperform and help ensure that their team did not cover the spread in certain games and then, through various sports books, arranged for large bets to be placed on those games against that team,” according to Thursday’s indictment.
“[Defendants] “aided and abetted in carrying out, attempting to carry out, and conspiring to carry out, a scheme in commerce to influence by bribery sports competitions, i.e., Chinese Basketball Association (“CBA”) men’s basketball games and National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) men’s basketball games, with the defendants participating in different aspects of this scheme, with knowledge that the purpose of this scheme was to somehow influence those competitions by bribery,” it says the accusation.
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General view of the SEC men’s basketball tournament championship game between the University of Kentucky Wildcats and the University of Florida Gators at the Georgia Dome on March 14, 2004 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
Former NBA player Antonio Blakeney is among those charged. Blakeney was a McDonald’s All-American in 2015 and attended LSU for two seasons.
Blakeney, a star player for the Jiangsu Dragons, was recruited and paid bribes to underperform and influence the outcome of games, prosecutors said. Blakeney then recruited other players on the team, corrupting the integrity of the games, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say that from 2023 to 2025, participants turned their attention to the NCAA, recruiting players and paying bribes between $10,000 and $30,000 per game. According to the indictment, more than 39 players from 17 different teams attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA Division 1 men’s basketball games, including conference tournaments. The organizers of the alleged scheme made bets totaling millions of dollars.
The participants played for Tulane, Nicholls State University, St. Louis University, Fordham, DePaul, among others, prosecutors said.
The charges include bribery in sports competitions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.
An official NCAA ball logo is seen on a basketball before the NCAA Division II Basketball National Championship game between the Minnesota State Mavericks and the Nova Southeastern Sharks on March 30, 2024, at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. (Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania David Metcalf announced the indictment at a news conference Thursday.
“When criminals taint the purity of sports by manipulating competition, they not only jeopardize the integrity of sports betting markets and they jeopardize the integrity of sport itself and everything that sports represent to us, you know, hard work, determination and fairness,” Metcalf said.
“We allege an extensive international criminal conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni and professional gamblers who fixed games across the country and poisoned the American spirit of competition for monetary gain.”
An official Wilson NCAA Evo NXT basketball with the March Madness logo approaches the rim and net. The action takes place at the Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, Kansas on March 19, 2025. (Kirby Lee/Image Images)
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The announcement follows the federal government’s crackdown on illicit sports betting and point-reduction schemes that hit the NBA in October.
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