A federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania accuses a point-shaving scheme involving 39 college basketball players and 17 NCAA Division I teams, with 15 players formally charged. The alleged conduct began in September 2022 an
By the time the indictment was unsealed on Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the numbers were already staggering: more than a dozen current and former college basketball players facing charges tied to a point-shaving scheme involving 17 NCAA Division I teams.
The federal case alleges the scheme involved 39 college basketball players, and prosecutors charged 15 of them. The allegations reach across multiple seasons. with ESPN saying several of the charged players appeared in the 2023-24 and/or the 2024-25 seasons. and CBS Sports saying a few have played this season.
Among the top-tier programs named in the broader matter were Butler, DePaul, Georgetown, St. John’s and Tulane—schools now forced to confront how deeply a corruption attempt could reach into college rosters.
The indictment describes a timeline that starts far from campus gyms. It says the scheme began in September 2022 and primarily involved fixing games in the Chinese Basketball Association. Over time. the people behind it allegedly expanded their targets. offering college players between $10. 000 and $30. 000 to compromise games so bets could be placed.
“In placing these wagers on games they had fixed. the defendants defrauded sportsbooks. as well as individual sports bettors. who were all unaware that the defendants had corruptly manipulated the outcome of these games that should have been decided fairly. based on genuine competition and the best efforts of the players. ” the indictment said.
The ripple effects of that alleged manipulation were not limited to older seasons, either. The NCAA sanctioned two of the players listed in the indictment in November for fixing New Orleans’ games. Four other players played in games as recently as this past week.
For current college players named in the indictment, the list includes Simeon Cottle of Kennesaw State—named Conference USA’s preseason Player of the Year—along with Camian Shell of Delaware State, Carlos Hart of Eastern Michigan, and Oumar Koureissi of Texas Southern.
ESPN’s reporting also adds another layer of exposure: two of those named in the indictment were also charged in a separate federal case centered on gambling schemes in the NBA. In that earlier indictment, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were among those charged.
After the federal indictment was unsealed. NCAA president Charlie Baker said the pattern of conduct revealed is “not entirely new information.” In his statement. Baker said the NCAA has finished or has open investigations into almost all of the teams in Thursday’s indictment through collaboration with industry regulators.
The NCAA’s position lands on familiar territory for a sport that has repeatedly wrestled with the same kind of vulnerability. The NCAA wasn’t the only governing body forced to deal with this reality; sports betting in the U.S. is at an all-time high as well. with 39 states having legal sports betting in either online or retail locations as of October 2025.
In 2024, the industry posted a record $13.7 billion in revenue. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has argued the issue is not consumer interest. but legality—he previously told ESPN that “the choice isn’t whether people want sports betting. but whether it’s legal or illegal.” Major League Baseball and the National Football League have also formed partnerships with online betting platforms.
Jonathan Cohen, author of “Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling,” warned in an interview that cheating scandals aren’t going to disappear.
“We’re going to keep having scandals like this,” Cohen said. “It’s just a matter of how much is too much. How much the public is willing to take before we really have a blowback on the whole sports betting infrastructure.”
Point-shaving and match-fixing have long shadows in basketball, and this case fits into a recurring, difficult-to-eradicate history. In 1951. point-shaving and match-fixing allegations circulated around major colleges and universities surrounding New York City. involving dozens of players across seven teams. Another major college basketball scandal arrived roughly a decade later during the NCAA University Division men’s basketball season. involving a former NBA All-Star and members of organized crime; prosecutors said there were 37 arrests. with 22 students from different colleges involved.
Thursday’s indictment brings those old fears back into focus—only now they’re attached to a modern betting ecosystem and a list of programs that stretches across the NCAA’s most recognizable names.
NCAA point shaving indictment Eastern District of Pennsylvania college basketball gambling Simeon Cottle Camian Shell Carlos Hart Oumar Koureissi Butler DePaul Georgetown St. John's Tulane Charlie Baker NCAA statement Chauncey Billups Terry Rozier indictment
So like… point shaving in college but it’s being blamed on “the Chinese Basketball Association”? wild.
I don’t even watch basketball like that but 17 teams?? that’s insane. Why would anyone risk that for $10k-$30k, like that’s not even enough to ruin your whole life.
Seems kinda like the NCAA was letting it happen tbh. If it involves Butler/Georgetown and DePaul then it’s always the same “basketball schools” getting caught. And didn’t point shaving start in the 90s? feels like this is just catching up.
Butler and DePaul are mentioned so I’m supposed to be shocked? Half the time refs are messing up games already, how do they even tell the difference. Also ESPN says they were playing 23-24 and 24-25, so like… they knew and nobody said anything until now. That part doesn’t add up to me.