Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed indictments against 26 people who allegedly conspired in a widespread point-shaving scheme that began with a focus on the Chinese Basketball Association, but grew to include multiple NCAA men’s basketball teams.
The indictments reveal in extreme detail how the scheme, led in part by known high-stakes gamblers Marves Fairley and Shane Hennen—both previously indicted in college and professional basketball gambling cases—as well as former NBA player Antonio Blakeney, recruited trainers and college basketball players.
The scheme grew to involve more than 39 players on more than 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams, attempting to fix more than 29 games, according to the indictment. NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a statement, “Through helpful collaboration and with industry regulators, we have finished or have open investigations into almost all of the teams” named in the indictment.
Prosecutors pointed out that the scheme’s ringleaders appeared to target student athletes who wouldn’t have earned a significant amount from NIL deals. They also noted that “because of the proliferation of legalized sports betting, the fixers could use numerous sportsbooks to place their bets on these games and conceal the scheme from authorities.”
The indictment also includes text exchanges that show how the fixers and players they recruited used bribes—often up to around $20,000 per game—and the dangling of potential large financial compensation to try to convince, sometimes unsuccessfully, other players to join in their plans. Multiple times throughout the indictment, texts from defendant Jalen Smith, a trainer, recommended those involved be more discrete in their communications, suggesting they “clean up how we text,” and at times brought up using burner phones or “secret social media” accounts.
Despite this acknowledgement that their communications could be found by authorities, the alleged fixers and others involved in the scheme continued to discuss their game-fixing plans over text, phone, and FaceTime, according to the indictment.
Often, players were reassured the money was guaranteed if they performed the way the fixers demanded, through text messages saying, for example, “money good u know that lol.”
Front Office Sports reviewed the entire 70-page indictment to highlight some of the most unbelievable details.
‘Death, taxes, and Chinese basketball’
Shane Hennen allegedly worked with Marves Fairley to recruit Antonio Blakeney to their point-shaving scheme while Blakeney played for the Jiangsu Dragons in China. The trio began fixing games in the CBA, including a game on which Fairley and Hennen wagered at least $198,300.
Blakeney eventually recruited an unnamed Dragons teammate to the scheme. Fairley viewed having another player involved somewhat like an insurance policy on their bets, telling Blakeney “better safe than sorry” in a text message.
When one of the unnamed co-conspirators appeared hesitant about the scheme, Hennen texted them “Nothing gu[a]rantee[d] in this world but death[,] taxes[,] and Chinese basketball.”
For his alleged help in fixing the CBA games, Blakeney received $200,000, which Fairley placed in a storage unit in Florida.
Large Wagers
Over the course of the scheme, which prosecutors say ran between September 2022 and February 2025, Fairley, Hennen, and other individuals working for them placed multiple bets on the games they were allegedly working with players to fix. In most cases, the bets amounted to six-figure totals.
About two years into the scheme, the fixers began to place parlays in order to reap greater amounts when their bets won, which happened often, but not always.
- Before a February 2024 game between Tulane and East Carolina, Fairley texted someone associated with the fixers about the game, “ln the car with the guys . . . Be ready to bet this college game that come on in two hrs. . Tulane/East Carolina.” Fairley, later in this exchange, said the game was “one of those 100%” guaranteed games and said, “I got total of 220k [$220,000]” in wagers on the game.”
- Before a February 2024 game between Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Hennen texted Fairley “a photograph of a sportsbook’s bet slip showing a wager of $50,000 on Northwestern State minus 10.5 points on this game,” the indictment says. The fixers were largely unsuccessful with their wagers on this game, and Fairley in text messages called the losses “unbelievable,” according to the indictment.
- Before a February 2024 game between Duquesne and Fordham, Blakeney texted Fairley, Hennen, Smith, and defendant Roderick Winkler, telling the group to “[l]oad up [on bets on Duquesne]!!” The fixers placed roughly $195,000, mostly on Duquesne to cover the full-game spread. Fordham won the game 79–67, meaning the fixers who bet on Duquesne for the full game lost.
- In February 2024, the fixers and their associates placed $424,000 on a Kent State vs. Buffalo game, which lost when Kent State failed to cover the first-half spread.
- In March 2024, the fixers bet $200,000 on Florida Atlantic to cover the 15-point spread against Tulane, which lost after Florida Atlantic won the game by only 6 points.
In at least one instance, a straw bettor enlisted by Fairley told him he wasn’t able to place wagers for the full amount. “[Sports]book horrible only let me put 12k [$12,000] on butler,” the associate texted him regarding a DePaul vs. Butler game in March 2024.
Lots of Pictures of Money
A common theme throughout the indictment is that the defendants shared photos of money as an incentive, either to recruit new players or to encourage those already involved in the scheme to perform as expected.
In the case of DePaul University player Bradley Ezewiro, who allegedly tried to recruit players from other teams to join in the scheme, defendant Jalen Smith sent Ezewiro a photo of stacks of cash and said: “send that to him if he bite he bite if he don’t so be it lol.”
In March 2024, defendant Alberto Laureano, a trainer, was allegedly traveling to Buffalo to deliver payments to defendants and Buffalo men’s basketball players Shawn Fulcher and Isaiah Adams, along with another unnamed player, for their roles in the point-shaving scheme. Laureano texted the players “a photograph of the inside of his car, revealing a large stack of cash in an open compartment.”
When Smith was allegedly traveling to Chicago to deliver bribe payments to DePaul players involved in the scheme, he texted Blakeney “a photograph of a large amount of cash that he was going to provide to the players,” according to the indictment.
Smith also texted a photo of “a large stack of cash” to Alabama State University players involved to remind them “of the spread, and told them that he was going to pay them in $100 bills if the point-shaving scheme succeeded.”
Texting Players About Performance
After the fixers bet and lost on the Fordham vs. Duquesne game in February 2024, Fordham player Elijah Gray, who was charged elsewhere in this case, texted Smith “I tried.” Smith—who had offered Gray a bribe of approximately $10,000 or $15,000 to underperform—replied saying “You did your job for sure,” and discussed another Fordham player who had an excellent game.
In one text exchange between Smith and DePaul forward Micawber Etienne, charged elsewhere, Smith complimented defendants Jalen Terry and Da’Sean Nelson, two DePaul players involved in the scheme: “l love Jalen terry he perfected his job… Sh*t Nelson snapped too.”
North Carolina A&T State University player Camian Shell allegedly received a text from Smith before a February 2024 game against Towson advising him to ensure the score wouldn’t be close: “10 or more points bro[,] we should[n’]t need sweating sh*t,” Smith said, according to the indictment. The fixers wagered approximately $458,000 on Towson in that game, where Towson was favored by 7 points in the first half, the indictment says.
During a March 2024 DePaul game against St. John’s, Smith texted Etienne “to complain that one of the players who was not involved in the point-shaving scheme was playing well,” the indictment says. Smith’s texts said that the player needed to “chilllll [the fxck] out.”
The indictment also shows examples of the fixers scolding the players for playing too well.
In one instance, Smith texted an unnamed Coppin State University student involved in the scheme: “Wtf u doing[,] it need to be a blowout . . . You hooping yo ass off wtf . . . U supposed to be fxcking losing[,] you costing us money . . . Get yo ass blow[n] out next half bro.”
