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Man who helped recruit players into a sprawling NCAA basketball point-shaving scheme pleads guilty
Smith admitted recruiting players to underperform in over 29 NCAA games, involving 39 players and 17 teams, defrauding sportsbooks with millions in wagers, prosecutors said.
- On Mar 9, 2026, Jalen Smith, 30-year-old Charlotte resident, pleaded guilty in federal court in Philadelphia to wire fraud, bribery and illegal possession of a firearm, becoming the first of 26 defendants in the scheme.
- Prosecutors say the scheme started when fixers recruited players to underperform during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 NCAA men's basketball seasons after two games in the Chinese Basketball Association, 2023.
- Records show the scheme involved more than 39 players on more than 17 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams, with payments typically $10,000 to $30,000 per game and the $32,000 delivery in Louisiana.
- When the indictment was unsealed in January it named 17 former college basketball players and four active players, and prosecutors say fixers bet against teams defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors; bribery, wire fraud and firearms charges carry up to 5, 20, and 20 years respectively.
- A week before March Madness, the plea highlights risks amid billions wagered legally and illegally during the tournament, marking the latest scandal since the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision on sports betting.
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College basketball ‘fixer’ pleads guilty in massive NCAA, CBA bribery and point-shaving scheme
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! One of the 26 people charged in an alleged bribery and point-shaving scheme to fix NCAA Division I men’s basketball games and Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) games has pleaded guilty, United States Attorney David Metcalf announced. Jalen Smith, a 30-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, entered a guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro on Monday in connection wi…
Associated Press News+19 Reposted by 19 other sources
Man who helped recruit players into a sprawling NCAA basketball point-shaving scheme pleads guilty
One of the so-called fixers in a sprawling betting scheme to cash in on big bets on rigged NCAA basketball games has pleaded guilty.
·United States
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Total News Sources35
Leaning Left5Leaning Right3Center20Last UpdatedBias Distribution71% Center
Bias Distribution
- 71% of the sources are Center
71% Center
L 18%
C 71%
11%
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