Las Vegas man going through expenses in third sports activities betting, rigged gaming scheme

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas man is going through expenses in reference to a 3rd sports activities betting and rigged gaming scandal.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors charged 20 individuals, together with 15 former NCAA basketball gamers, in a betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association Games.

WATCH: Over a dozen former NCAA gamers amongst these charged in scheme to rig video games

15 former NCAA gamers amongst these charged in alleged scheme to rig basketball video games

One of the defendants named within the indictment is Shane Hennen. Hennen presents himself as a “high-stake sports gambler, social media influencer, and sports handicapper who sold betting advice to others.”

His alleged Instagram account reveals him at varied sportsbooks alongside the Las Vegas Strip.

According to the brand new indictment revealed on Thursday, Hennen recruited former Chicago Bulls participant and then-Jiangsu Dragons participant Antonio Blakeney to participate in a point-shaving scheme. Prosecutors state Hennen provided bribe funds to Blakeney in trade for underperforming in and influencing the end result of video games.

For instance, on March 6, 2023, the Guangdong Southern Tigers performed in opposition to the Dragons, and Guangdong was favored to win the sport by roughly 11.5 factors at sportsbooks. Before the sport, Hennen positioned massive wagers with a number of sportsbooks on Guangdong to cowl the full-game unfold. Blakeney, who was the league’s highest scorer and averaged over 32 factors a sport, scored solely 11 factors within the sport. Guangdong defeated Jiangsu 127 to 96 “covering the spreads and the fixers won most of their bets.”

Prosecutors say the same incident occurred on March 15, 2023. Blakeney instructed Hennen that he would not be enjoying and he allegedly recruited one other participant who was enjoying, to “accept a bribe payment to help ensure [the other team] covered the spread.” They did and the fixers received their bets.

Multiple textual content messages present Hennen discussing the profitable bets and agreeing to provide “20k [$20,000] to [the] player” from Jiangsu who agreed to help within the scheme.

Another textual content message reveals Hennen telling one other fixer: “Nothing gu[a]rantee[d] in this world but death, taxes, and Chinese basketball.”

Yuki Iwamura/AP

The indictment states Hennen turned his consideration to varsity basketball, and with the opposite fixers and Blakeney, they recruited NCAA gamers who accepted bribes in trade for influencing the end result of video games.

“To conceal their scheme from authorities and increase their ability to make bets, the fixers also used ‘straw’ or ‘proxy’ bettors to place bets on the fixed games for them with funds provided by the fixers,” the indictment states. “In total, the fixers engaged in a point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on more than 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams who then fixed and attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA Division I men’s basketball games.”

Some of these colleges embody:

• Nicholls State University
• Tulane University
• Northwestern State University
• St. Louis University
• La Salle University
• Fordham University
• State University of New York at Buffalo
• DePaul University
• Robert Morris University
• University of Southern Mississippi
• North Carolina AT&T State University
• Coppin State University
• University of New Orleans
• Abilene Christian University
• Eastern Michigan
• Alabama State University

Hennen is going through three counts of wire fraud, one depend of bribery in sporting contests, and one depend of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to prosecutors, if convicted, he could face as much as 5 years in jail for the bribery cost and as much as 20 years in jail for every wire fraud cost.

This is not Hennen’s first brush with the regulation in relation to sports activities playing. Back in October, FBI Director Kash Patel introduced greater than 30 individuals had been arrested, together with Hennen, as a part of a probe into rigged betting and cash laundering.

WATCH: Steve Sebelius breaks down ‘Operation Royal Flush’

Sports Betting, Rigged Poker Indictments Have Las Vegas Ties

Federal investigators alleged Hennen offered “cheating technology” used to rig unlawful poker video games, and he acquired a lower of the earnings.

They additionally alleged Hennen used a “network of associates” and was supplied with personal info to “place fraudulent wagers.”

If convicted in that case, Hennen faces as much as 20 years in jail for each the wire fraud conspiracy depend and the cash laundering conspiracy depend.

You can see examples of the tech that was used under:

U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York

U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York

In January, Hennen was arrested in Las Vegas on expenses associated to a different unlawful betting scheme involving former NBA participant Jontay Porter.

Court data present that between January and March 2024, Porter agreed to withdraw from NBA video games early to allow co-conspirators to put fraudulent wagers.

Hennen was arrested at Harry Reid International Airport on Jan. 12, 2025. Investigators said he was making an attempt to board a flight to Panama and mentioned he was touring to Colombia to “purportedly seek dental treatment.”

Porter pleaded responsible to commit wire fraud, was sentenced in December, and has been banned for all times from the NBA.