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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, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf announced.
Jalen Smith, a 30-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro on Monday to the scheme, as well as charges related to unlawful possession of a firearm.
Smith pleaded guilty to bribery in sports contests and aiding and abetting, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and possession of a firearm by a felon.
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The NCAA headquarters in Indianapolis is shown on Thursday, March 12, 2020. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
An unsealed indictment back in January noted that Smith engaged in the scheme to influence or fix NCAA and CBA men’s basketball games from at least “in or about September 2022 through at least in or about February 2025.”
Co-conspirators enlisted Smith as a “fixer” where they would work with others to recruit and bribe NCAA Division I men’s basketball players to underperform and ensure their teams could not cover spreads during games from the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
“Through various sportsbooks, Smith helped arrange for large bets to be placed on these games, betting against the team whose player or players they had bribed to participate in this point-shaving scheme,” the United States Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
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“Smith and other fixers approached and communicated with the players, in person and through social media, text communications and cell phone calls, offering the players bribes, usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.”
Since today’s college athletes are paid via name, image and likeness (NIL) branding deals, Smith and other fixers “specifically targeted college players for whom the bribe payments would be a meaningful supplement.”
A generic view of a basketball on a court. (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)
More than 39 players on more than 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams were found to be involved in the bribery and point-shaving scheme, with fixing or attempted fixing of more than 29 NCAA games.
The fixers made “bets totaling millions of dollars,” with players involved collectively receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribe payments.
Smith faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on the sports competition bribery charge, up to 20 years on each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a maximum of 15 years on the firearms charge.
NCAA President Charlie Baker responded to the point shaving scheme in January.
NCAA President and former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is interviewed by Boston Globe Sports Writer Chris Gasper at the Globe Summit 2023. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“Protecting competitive integrity is of utmost importance to the NCAA. We are grateful to the law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match-fixing in college sports,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.
Baker said the allegations were not “completely new information for the NCAA,” as it had conducted “integrity investigations of approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year.”
