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Three Eastern Michigan basketball players are among 20 former and current college players indicted in a broad-sweeping point-shaving scandal involving 17 NCAA college teams and more than 29 games.
Former Eastern Michigan basketball players Da'Sean Nelson and Jalen Terry and current guard Carlos Hart, who has been suspended, were charged in the indictment out of Philadelphia with bribery in sporting contests and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In all, 26 people were indicted, including six "fixers" or gamblers who fixed the games and wagered millions of dollars on the contests.The group was also involved in fixing games in the Chinese professional basketball league.
Authorities allege that the organizers in September 2022 worked to recruit and bribe players to help influence or “fix” Chinese Basketball Association (“CBA”) men’s basketball games through point shaving.
During the 2022-2023 Chinese Basketball Association season, the indictment alleges the gamblers or "fixers" recruited CBA player Antonio Blakeney, 29, of Kissimmee, Florida, who was also a fixer who got other players to go along with the scheme. He played for the Jiangsu Dragons and previously played in the NCAA and NBA.
In April 2023, at the end of the CBA regular season, the indictment alleges one of the fixers, Marves Fairley, 40, of Carson, Miss., left a package with nearly $200,000 in cash as a payoff in Blakeney’s storage unit in Florida.
During the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 NCAA men’s basketball seasons, the fixers, including the basketball player Blakeney, allegedly recruited NCAA college players who would help ensure their team failed to cover the spread of the first half of a game or an entire game. The fixers then bet on those games.
The indictment alleges that the fixers offered the college players bribe payments, usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.
Though only 20 players were indicted, federal authorities alleged that a total of 39 players on more than 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams fixed and attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA games.
"The indictment alleges that the fixers specifically targeted college players for whom the bribe payments would meaningfully supplement, or exceed, the student-athletes’ legitimate opportunities for 'Name-Image-Likeness' compensation," the U.S. Attorney's press release said.
"The fixers also generally targeted for their scheme players on teams that were underdogs in games and sought to have them fail to cover the spreads in those games. Many of these players accepted the offers and agreed to help fix specific games so that the fixers would win their wagers."
