Twenty people were charged in an alleged betting scheme that rigged NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games.
Among those facing federal charges were 15 current or previous players from Division 1 NCAA schools, The Associated Press reported.
Of the five others who were considered fixers, they included two men who worked in training and development of players, one was a trainer and a former coach and two were also called gamblers, influencers and sports handicappers, the AP said.
The fixers were accused of recruiting players with bribes of between $10,000 and $30,000 a game, according to the indictment filed in federal court in Philadelphia.
The athletes played for several universities, including Tulane, St. Louis University, DePaul and Fordham, according to The Washington Post. In all, there were at least 39 players in 17 schools who are linked to the scheme, the newspaper reported.
Charges include bribery and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Read the indictment below:
The case comes after NCAA investigations that led to 10 players being banned for life over bets, some of which included their own teams or performances.
Dozens of players have been investigated for gambling, the NCAA said.
NCAA President Charlie Baker released a statement in light of the indictments, which read:
“Our enforcement staff has opened sports betting integrity investigations into approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year. While some of the investigations are ongoing, 11 student-athletes from seven schools were recently found to have bet on their own performances, shared information with known bettors, and/or engaged in game manipulation to collect on bets they - or others - placed. This behavior resulted in a permanent loss of NCAA eligibility for all of them. Additionally, 13 student-athletes from eight schools (including some of those identified above) were found to have failed to cooperate in the sports betting integrity investigation by providing false or misleading information, failing to provide relevant documentation and/or refusing to be interviewed by the enforcement staff. None of them are competing today.
“The Association has and will continue to aggressively pursue sports betting violations in college athletics using a layered integrity monitoring program that covers over 22,000 contests, but 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. We also will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement. We urge all student-athletes to make well-informed choices to avoid jeopardizing the game and their eligibility.”
Among the players named in the indictment were three with ties to the Atlanta metro area.
According to the court document, Simeon Cottle and Demond Robinson, and a third person only referred to as Person No. 12, were recruited in February 2024 from the Kennesaw State University basketball team to underperform and influence games in exchange for payments.
Cottle sent messages to other defendants in the indictment about a "point-shaving scheme," according to the court records. He is currently a senior on the team and their leading scorer.
Cottle and Robinson may have been paid tens of thousands of dollars as a result of the alleged scheme, records show.
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