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After Dozens Of College Athletes Are Charged In Point-Shaving Scheme, Officials Study How They Got Away With It For So Long

Last month, a federal indictment was unsealed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which included a major college basketball point-shaving plot.

More than 39 players on 17 Division 1 teams were involved in games fixed by a gambling ring, including one former NBA player.

>SLIDESHOW: 50 MOST-INFAMOUS ATHLETE MUGSHOTS & THE STORIES BEHIND THEM!

The point-shaving allegedly occurred during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, according to the indictment.

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Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Camian Shell and Oumar Koureissi were the four players charged, and all four have played for their current teams in the past week. The allegations against the players all stem from their time at their previous schools. None of the allegations include this season.

Eastern Michigan has already suspended Hart from all team activities pending the outcome of the case, according to a statement released by the school. Kennesaw State has also suspended Cottle indefinitely.

Cottle was named the preseason player of the year in the Conference USA and is having a stellar year, averaging 20.2 points per game.

According to authorities, players were recruited by “fixers” to participate and were offered bribes ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 to intentionally perform badly.

Former NBA player Antonio Blakeney was allegedly part of the recruitments but he was not charged. Blakeney played at LSU before spending two seasons with the Chicago Bulls from 2017 to 2019, then playing overseas in China and Israel.

The scheme originally focused on the Chinese Basketball Association, where the point-shaving began.

NCAA president, Charlie Baker, released a statement saying, “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.”

The following schools were listed in the indictment: Abilene Christian, Alabama State, Buffalo, Coppin State, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Fordham, Kennesaw State, La Salle, New Orleans, Nicholls State, North Carolina A&T, Northwestern State, Robert Morris, Saint Louis, Southern Miss and Tulane.

Sam Lanier

Senior at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication at Arizona State University

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