Former NCAA gamers and fixers charged over rigged basketball video games, prosecutors say

PHILADELPHIA — A sprawling betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association video games ensnared 26 folks, together with greater than a dozen faculty basketball gamers who tried to repair video games as lately as final season, federal prosecutors stated Thursday.

The scheme typically revolved round fixers recruiting gamers with the promise of an enormous fee in alternate for these gamers purposefully underperforming throughout a sport, prosecutors stated. Then the fixers positioned huge bets towards these gamers’ groups in these video games, defrauding sportsbooks and different bettors, in keeping with the indictment unsealed Thursday.

Fixers began with two video games within the Chinese Basketball Association in 2023 and, profitable there, moved on to fixing NCAA video games as lately as January 2025, authorities say. The “bribe payments” to gamers ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per sport, authorities stated.

Four of the gamers charged – Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Oumar Koureissi and Camian Shell – performed for his or her present groups in the previous few days, though the allegations towards them don’t contain this season.

Calling it an “international criminal conspiracy,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf informed reporters in Philadelphia that this case represents a “significant corruption of the integrity of sports.”

Concerns about playing and faculty sports activities have grown since 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on the follow, main some states to legalize it to various levels. The NCAA doesn’t permit athletes or employees to guess on faculty video games, but it surely briefly allowed student-athletes to guess on skilled sports activities final yr earlier than rescinding that call in November.

Of the defendants, 15 performed basketball for Division 1 NCAA colleges throughout 2024-25 season, prosecutors say. Several of them are taking part in this season.

Five others final performed within the NCAA within the 2023-24 season whereas one other, former NBA participant Antonio Blakeney, performed within the Chinese Basketball Association within the 2022-23 season.

The different 5 defendants have been described by authorities as fixers.

They embrace two males who prosecutors say labored within the coaching and improvement of basketball gamers. Another was a coach and former coach, one was a former NCAA participant and two have been described as gamblers, influencers and sports activities handicappers.

In many situations, the defendants’ wagers on the fastened video games have been profitable. The sportsbooks paid out the winnings, and took losses, authorities say.

“The sportsbooks would not have paid out those wagers had they known that the defendants fixed those games,” the indictment stated.

Meanwhile, different bettors unaware of the scheme misplaced cash on their bets and wouldn’t have positioned these bets had they identified about it, authorities say.

The prices, filed in federal courtroom in Philadelphia, embrace bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.

One betting scandal after one other has rocked the sports activities world, the place playing income topped $11 billion for the primary three-quarters of final yr, in keeping with the American Gaming Association. That’s up greater than 13% from the prior yr, the group stated.

The indictment follows a collection of NCAA investigations that led to at the least 10 gamers receiving lifetime bans this yr for bets that typically concerned their very own groups and their very own performances. And the NCAA has stated that at the least 30 gamers have been investigated over playing allegations. More than 30 folks have been additionally charged in final yr’s sprawling federal takedown of unlawful playing operations linked to skilled basketball.

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Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press author Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia contributed.