Federal prosecutors in the United States have charged 26 people, including more than a dozen college basketball players, over an alleged scheme to rig games in both the NCAA and the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). The indictment, unsealed on Thursday, describes what US Attorney David Metcalf called an “international criminal conspiracy” that corrupted the integrity of sports.
According to authorities, fixers recruited players with promises of large cash payments in exchange for deliberately underperforming during games. The fixers then placed substantial bets against those players’ teams, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors. Bribe payments ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, officials said.
The scheme began with two games in the CBA in 2023, and after those proved successful, expanded to NCAA games as recently as January 2025. Of the defendants, 15 played for Division I NCAA schools during the 2024-25 season, with several still playing this season. Four players — Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Oumar Koureissi and Camian Shell — appeared for their current teams in the last few days, though the allegations against them do not involve this season.
Prosecutors said that in many instances the wagers on the fixed games were successful, and that sportsbooks paid out winnings they would not have paid had they known the games were rigged. Other bettors, unaware of the scheme, lost money on bets they would not have placed otherwise. The charges include bribery, wire fraud and conspiracy.
NCAA president Charlie Baker said his organisation was thankful for law enforcement efforts, noting that the pattern of conduct was “not entirely new information” and that investigations were open into almost all of the teams named in the indictment. The case follows a series of recent gambling-related scandals in US college sports, with gambling revenue exceeding $11bn in the first three quarters of last year alone.
