When naming well-known and powerful NCAA Division I basketball programs, the likes of Tulane, Fordham, and Nicholls State aren’t going to appear on many lists. As far as a pair of fixers looking to use bribe payments during college basketball games to ensure big wins via sports betting were concerned, the likes of Kennesaw State and DePaul suited their needs far better than big programs like Duke or the University of Florida.
On January 15, 2026, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania unsealed an indictment charging 20 college basketball players (both current and former) and six fixers with wire fraud, conspiracy, and bribery in sporting contests. It alleges that the defendants engaged in a scheme to influence the outcomes of men’s basketball games played in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and NCAA Division I. The gamblers bribed basketball players to create fixed games that they’d then bet heavily on with sportsbooks.
The bettors targeted smaller, less flashy programs like Tulane and Northwestern State because these NCAA players were less likely to have a steady stream of income from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) compensation, making them more open to accepting a bribe. Those convicted face statutory maximums of up to 5 years on the bribery counts and up to 20 years on the wire‑fraud‑related counts, though actual sentences would depend on federal guidelines and judicial discretion.
You Want To Pay Me To Stink? I Can Do That.
Point-shaving schemes in basketball games usually involve paying a player or players to turn in a substandard performance to affect the contest’s score. The players targeted are often the best on their respective teams and thus have the most potential to influence the outcome. Examples include missing shots on purpose, slacking on defense, and making errant passes. Bettors behind the scheme will then make certain wagers known as proposition bets (props) on the outcome they expect their ace-in-the-hole to create, such as having their team not cover the first-half spread.
The criminal enterprise began in 2022, with Marves Fairley and Shane Hennen using bribes to enlist players from basketball teams in the CBA for their point-shaving plan. They also added former NBA player Antonio Blakeney, a member of the CBA’s Jiangsu Dragons who’d been a star at Louisiana State University (LSU), as a recruiter. With corrupt players receiving payments to undermine their teams, Fairley and Hennen would often place $100,000 or more on prop bets in those games.
The scheme expanded to NCAA Division I men’s basketball in 2023, with the gamblers focusing on smaller programs such as Coppin State, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and Abilene Christian. For the majority of their wagers, Fairley and Hennen (later joined by alleged co-conspirators Roderick Winkler, Alberto Laureano, and Jalen Smith) would allegedly place bets that the favored team would fail to cover the spread (or that the underdog would cover), and then bribe players on the team they were betting against to underperform (which means being ahead by a certain minimum of points set by the sportsbooks) at either the end of the first half or the end of the game.
In at least one instance, their wagers for a game topped $400,000. They’d attempt to ensure these results by bribing players on the underdog teams, such as the University of New Orleans or Eastern Michigan, to underperform.
The U.S. attorneys provided hundreds of text messages between the gamblers and the players discussing which games were to be thrown, what the payments would be, and angry questions when things didn’t go according to plan. Some players, like Jalen Terry and Da’Sean Nelson, continued to take bribes to shave points after transferring from one school to another.
On a Fast Break to Federal Prison
Despite sticking to relatively obscure Division I programs like Robert Morris and the University of Saint Louis, the alleged scheme was uncovered by the FBI’s Philadelphia office. If Shane Hennen’s name seems familiar, it may be because he is also charged in a separate federal gambling case involving NBA games, including a high‑profile scheme with former NBA player Jontay Porter in 2024. Porter pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces up to four years in prison, although his hearing has been postponed until 2025.
While most of the named players have been suspended or, as in the case of Oumar Koureissi at Texas Southern, removed from their teams, others are still actively playing. To prevent something like this from happening again, the NCAA is pushing to make prop bets on college basketball games illegal. At the moment, only four of the states that permit wagering on sporting events have agreed to do so. Meanwhile, we’re left to wonder if NCAA players will look askance at teammates who throw up a brick or screw up a dunk.
Related Resources
- NBA Players Cross the Line With Sports Betting Using Insider Info (FindLaw’s Legally Weird)
- NBA’s Chauncy Billups and Damon Jones Busted for High-Stakes Gambling Ring (FindLaw’s Legally Weird)
- MLB Pitchers Balk at Charges of Rigged Pitches for Sports Betting (FindLaw’s Legally Weird)
