US charges 26 people with rigging college, Chinese basketball games
Prosecutors said the scheme involved 39 players, millions of dollars in wagers on fixed games and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes
Pennsylvania federal prosecutors on Thursday announced charges against 26 people for allegedly rigging bets on college and Chinese professional basketball games, the latest case to accuse athletes of cheating at legalised sports betting that has exploded in popularity in the US.
A 70-page indictment names more than a dozen former National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball players, a former NBA player and two sports-betting influencers who were previously charged in a sweeping NBA bet-rigging investigation. The charges include bribery in sporting contests, wire fraud and conspiracy.
“The criminal charges we have filed allege the criminal corruption of collegiate athletics through an international conspiracy of NCAA players, alumni, and professional bettors,” said US Attorney David Metcalf of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, calling them “yet another blow to public confidence in the integrity of sport.”
Prosecutors in Philadelphia allege the scheme began in 2022, when several of the defendants began recruiting and bribing Chinese Basketball Association players to intentionally underperform in games to ensure certain bets placed on their teams.
The scheme widened to US college basketball during the 2023-2024 season, according to prosecutors, who said the defendants recruited players to accept bribes for helping to ensure their teams fell short of their projected margins of victory, or spreads.