A man charged with rigging college basketball games as part of an elaborate point-fixing scheme that brought in millions has been sentenced to six years in federal prison, prosecutors in Pennsylvania announced Tuesday. It is the first penalty handed down in an investigation that revealed a sprawling network of professional gamblers and college basketball players who, prosecutors say, profited off fixed games.
Prosecutors said Jalen Smith, 30, played a "central role" in fixing games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 NCAA Division I basketball seasons. He placed bets and recruited players with the promise of a big payment for purposefully underperforming, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said. Bettors would then wager against those players' teams, defrauding sportsbooks and other gamblers. Smith pleaded guilty earlier this year to bribery and wire fraud charges.
The scheme involved nearly 30 NCAA basketball games and included schools such as De Paul University, State University of New York at Buffalo and Tulane University. Prosecutors accused Smith and at least 26 other named defendants of wagering millions of dollars and paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. Payments to players typically ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, according to an indictment. Players considered "underdogs" were prime targets because the money exceeded their potential income from legitimate sponsorships.
Smith, of Charlotte, North Carolina, had trained local basketball players for professional scouting combines and used those connections when he joined the scheme. The scheme resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent wagers. Smith, who also pleaded guilty to a separate felony gun possession charge, must pay $1.1 million in restitution, which prosecutors said covers the cost incurred by gambling platforms. The charges also targeted over a dozen former college players and four others who were active with their teams last season.
Source: ESPN General · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing