20 charged in point-shaving plot in college basketball

Four current college basketball players are among 20 men who have been charged in a point-shaving scheme that led to hundreds of thousands of dollars being wagered in allegedly fixed games.

The federal indictment was unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

"This was a massive scheme that enveloped the world of college basketball," U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said in a news conference. "This was a significant and rampant corruption of college athletics."

The indictment spells out 29 games being fixed, with 39 players on 17 NCAA Division I teams allegedly involved. Among those charged, 15 of the men played in games during the 2023-24 or 2024-25 seasons, though some of them appeared in games both seasons.

The other five defendants are believed to be the people who organized the schemes. At least two of them, Shane Hennen and Marves Fairley, also have been charged in the Eastern District of New York in a case involving gambling in the NBA -- the case that ensnared Terry Rozier of the Miami Heat and coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers.

The four current NCAA players are Simeon Cottle (Kennesaw State), Carlos Hart (Eastern Michigan), Camian Shell (Delaware State) and Oumar Koureissi (Texas Southern).

Their schools had not commented on the players' status moving forward as of mid-day Thursday.

Cottle has played at Kennesaw State since the 2022-23 season, and he is alleged to have taken part in illegal activities in the 2023-24 season. The alleged actions of the other three current players occurred at their former schools, per the indictment.

Cottle was named preseason player of the year in Conference USA.

Not all of the names in the indictment are new to the NCAA or the schools. The NCAA sanctioned two of the players, Cedquavious Hunter and Dyquavian Short, in November by for fixing games at the University of New Orleans.

The following schools were named in the indictment: Abilene Christian, Alabama State, Buffalo, Coppin State, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Fordham, Kennesaw State, La Salle, New Orleans, Nicholls State, North Carolina A&T, Northwestern State, Robert Morris, Saint Louis, Southern Miss and Tulane.

The betting scheme is alleged to have begun with games in the Chinese Basketball Association in September 2022 before spreading to college basketball. According to the indictment, college players could gain as much as $30,000 for helping to fix the game.

The indictment spells out several examples of games in which players were instructed to impact the outcome in favor of bettors. In one game in February 2024, more than $450,000 was bet on Towson to beat the spread against North Carolina A&T, with Shell allegedly involved in that scheme.

In a statement Thursday, NCAA president Charlie Baker said the organization already has investigated 20 schools and approximately 40 players.

"Protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance for the NCAA. We are thankful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match manipulation in college sports," Baker said. "The pattern of college basketball game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement today is not entirely new information to the NCAA. Through helpful collaboration and with industry regulators, we have finished or have open investigations into almost all of the teams in today's indictment."

Baker called for further action to quell betting in college sports.

"We still need the remaining states, regulators and gaming companies to eliminate threats to integrity -- such as collegiate prop bets -- to better protect athletes and leagues from integrity risks and predatory bettors," he said.