NCAA Basketball Point-Shaving Lawsuit: Charges, Pleas, and Prison Time

In January 2026, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania unsealed a 70-page indictment charging 26 people in the NCAA basketball point-shaving case, which authorities have described as the largest college basketball game-fixing conspiracy in decades. The indictment, filed as U.S. v. J. Smith et al., alleges that fixers and gamblers bribed active Division I players to deliberately underperform in more than 29 games during the 2023–24 and 2024–25 seasons while the fixers wagered millions on the manipulated results.¹

How the Scheme Worked

Fixers approached active Division I players in person, on social media, by text, and over phone and FaceTime calls. Players were typically offered between $10,000 and $30,000 per game to play poorly, sit out stretches, or keep the ball away from teammates who weren’t in on the arrangement. The bets usually targeted the first-half line or the full-game spread. When the fix hit, fixers traveled to campus with cash. When it didn’t, they simply lost the wager.²

The conspiracy touched more than 39 players across at least 17 Division I programs, almost all of them mid-major or low-major schools. Programs named in the indictment include DePaul, Kennesaw State, Nicholls State, Buffalo, Tulane, Saint Louis, Eastern Michigan, Delaware State, La Salle, Fordham, Robert Morris, Southern Mississippi, Northwestern State, Coppin State, Abilene Christian, North Carolina A&T, New Orleans, and Alabama State.³⁴

A DePaul–Georgetown game on February 24, 2024, illustrates the pattern. Prosecutors allege that DePaul players Jalen Terry, Da’Sean Nelson, Micawber Etienne, and a fourth unnamed player agreed to tank the first half. Georgetown was a 2.5-point first-half favorite, and the fixers put roughly $27,000 on Georgetown to cover. At halftime Georgetown led 41–28. Terry was scoreless in the opening half and scored 16 after the break. Fixer Jalen Smith allegedly handed $40,000 in cash to the players in Chicago afterward.⁵⁶

Who Is Charged

Six defendants are identified as the operation’s organizers. Shane Hennen (40, of Las Vegas and Philadelphia) and Marves Fairley (40, of Carson, Mississippi) allegedly ran the gambling side, recruiting players and placing large wagers at sportsbooks including BetRivers at Rivers Casino in Philadelphia. Rivers Casino itself is not accused of wrongdoing.⁷⁸

Jalen Smith (30, of Charlotte) used his background as a trainer for professional scouting combines to build relationships with players and recruit them. Antonio Blakeney (29, of Kissimmee, Florida), a former LSU and Chicago Bulls guard, moved from participant in an earlier Chinese Basketball Association phase of the scheme into a recruiter role on the NCAA side. Roderick Winkler (31, of Little Rock) and Alberto Laureano (24, of the Bronx) round out the named fixers.¹

Seventeen of the 26 defendants are former college basketball players. Publicly identified names include Simeon Cottle (Kennesaw State), Camian Shell (Delaware State), Carlos Hart (Eastern Michigan), Oumar Koureissi (Texas Southern/Nicholls), Cedquavious Hunter and Dyquavian Short (New Orleans), Jalen Terry and Da’Sean Nelson (DePaul, later Eastern Michigan), Kevin Cross (Tulane), Bradley Ezewiro (Saint Louis), Shawn Fulcher (Buffalo/Alabama State), Demond Robinson (Kennesaw State), Diante Smith (Nicholls State), Isaiah Adams (Buffalo), Airion Simmons, and Markeese Hastings.³⁹

The Federal Charges and Possible Prison Time

The defendants face three principal federal charges:

Bribery in sporting contests: up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud: up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
Wire fraud: up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.

Some defendants face additional counts. Jalen Smith was also charged with illegal possession of a stolen firearm. Shane Hennen faces three separate wire fraud counts on top of the conspiracy and bribery charges.¹⁷

U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced the case at a January 15, 2026, press conference in Philadelphia. “The stakes here are far higher than anything on a bet slip,” Metcalf said, describing the conspiracy as “the criminal corruption of collegiate athletics through an international conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni, and professional bettors.” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Louis D. Lappen and Jerome M. Maiatico are prosecuting.¹

Guilty Pleas So Far

Several defendants started resolving their cases almost immediately. Former Fordham player Elijah Gray pleaded guilty on December 23, 2025, to one count of bribery in sporting contests, before the charges were publicly announced. Former DePaul player Micawber Etienne reached a plea agreement on December 8, 2025, that remained under seal. Former Nicholls State player Diante Smith and former Buffalo player Isaiah Adams were scheduled for arraignment and plea hearings in February 2026.¹⁰

On March 9, 2026, fixer Jalen Smith became the first of the 26 publicly indicted defendants to plead guilty, admitting to wire fraud, bribery, and the firearms charge. His attorney said Smith pleaded to “get the matter behind him” and move forward. He was awaiting sentencing at the time of the plea.²¹¹

Several charging documents were filed as “Informations” rather than indictments for defendants including Blakeney, Adams, Etienne, Gray, Hines, and D. Smith. Under federal procedure, an Information typically means the defendant waived indictment by a grand jury, which usually signals a plea agreement or cooperation.¹

How the FBI Built the Case

The FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office led the investigation, which ran roughly two years before the January 2026 indictments were unsealed. Federal authorities said they built the case through digital evidence, including text messages, social media direct messages, FaceTime calls, and travel records.¹

Sportsbooks and third-party integrity monitors also flagged unusual betting patterns on mid-major games. The NCAA has said its enforcement staff knew about the FBI probe for more than a year and had independently investigated roughly 40 student-athletes from 20 schools during that time. FBI officials have called the case “not an endpoint” and said related investigations extend across multiple leagues, sports, and jurisdictions.³¹

The Separate NBA-Linked Case

A different federal case is often discussed alongside this one, and the two should not be confused. On the same day the Philadelphia indictment was unsealed, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced a separate prosecution charging 34 people in an insider-information gambling conspiracy involving Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and former NBA player Damon Jones. Hennen and Fairley are charged in both.¹²

Metcalf drew a clear line between the two. The New York case involves wagering based on nonpublic information such as player injuries. The Philadelphia case involves outcomes the conspirators themselves controlled by paying players to miss shots and sit stretches.¹²

NCAA Eligibility Consequences

Separate from any federal sentence, players implicated in the scheme face NCAA sanctions. In November 2025, the Division I Committee on Infractions ruled six student-athletes permanently ineligible for betting-related game manipulation: Cedquavious Hunter, Dyquavian Short, and Jamond Vincent of New Orleans, along with Donovan Sanders, Alvin Stredic, and Chatton “BJ” Freeman, connected to violations at Mississippi Valley State and Arizona State.¹³

Former Fordham players Elijah Gray and Will Richardson were also declared permanently ineligible, with Richardson receiving an additional Level I violation for providing false information to NCAA investigators.¹⁴

In June 2026, the NCAA found that four former Alabama State players — Amarr Knox, Shawn Fulcher, Corey Hines, and Tony Madlock — had been paid a total of $2,000 to throw a December 5, 2024, game against Southern Mississippi. Southern Miss, a six-point favorite, won 81–64. All four were declared permanently ineligible, and Fulcher and Hines were also indicted on federal fraud and bribery charges.¹⁵¹⁶

Under rules the NCAA adopted in 2023, permanent loss of eligibility is now the default starting sanction for any Division I athlete who bets on their own games or shares information with bettors for wagering purposes.¹³

How This Case Compares Historically

Point-shaving in college basketball has a long history, but the 2026 case stands out for its reach. Metcalf compared it to the 1951 City College of New York scandal, which implicated 32 players across multiple schools and effectively ended CCNY’s run as a major basketball program.¹⁷

Other precedents include the 1978–79 Boston College scheme involving three players and at least nine games, the 1985 Tulane scandal that shut down the program for four years, and later cases at Arizona State in the mid-1990s and Northwestern in the late 1990s. With 17 programs, 39 players, and 29 games alleged, the Philadelphia case is the broadest documented attack on the integrity of college basketball since the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Murphy v. NCAA opened the door to legal sports betting in most states.¹⁸

1
U.S. Department of Justice. 26 People Charged in Alleged Bribery and Point-Shaving Scheme
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ESPN. Fixer in NCAA Basketball Point-Shaving Scheme Pleads Guilty
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CBS Sports. College Basketball Players Point Shaving, Fixing Games: FBI Scandal
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Sports Illustrated. Full List of Games Impacted in College Basketball Point-Shaving Scandal
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ESPN. Inside Six College Basketball Games Feds Say Were Fixed
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WTTW News. Ex-DePaul Players Among Several Charged in Rigging College Basketball Games
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Billy Penn. Basketball College China Sports Gambling Scandal
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CBS News Philadelphia. Shane Hennen, Rivers Casino, College Basketball Point Shaving
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NBC Philadelphia. 20 Charged in Basketball Game-Fixing Scandal
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Sports Illustrated. Two Former Players Strike Plea Deals in College Basketball Game-Fixing Scandal
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Courthouse News Service. Man Who Helped Recruit Players Into Sprawling NCAA Basketball Point-Shaving Scheme Pleads Guilty
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The Athletic. NCAA College Basketball Gambling Investigation Charges
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NCAA. 6 Former Mens Basketball Student-Athletes Committed NCAA Violations Involving Betting-Related Game Manipulation
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Athletic Business. NCAA Declares Two Former Fordham Players Permanently Ineligible in Point-Shaving Scandal
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ESPN. Ex-Alabama State Players Were Paid to Fix 2024 Game, NCAA Says
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NCAA. Sports Betting Integrity Violations Involving 4 Mens Basketball Student-Athletes Occurred at Alabama State
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Sports Illustrated. Massive Point-Shaving Scandal Shows College Basketballs Integrity Problem Isnt New
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Kansas State University. Corruption on the Court