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One of 26 people charged in an alleged bribery and point-reduction 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, 30, of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty Monday before U.S. District Court Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro in connection with the scheme, as well as charges related to illegal possession of a firearm.
Smith pleaded guilty to athletic bribery, 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 indictment unsealed in January said Smith was involved in the scheme to influence or fix NCAA and CBA men’s basketball games from at least “in or about September 2022 to at least in or about February 2025.”
The co-conspirators recruited Smith as a “fixer,” where they would work alongside others to recruit and bribe NCAA Division I men’s basketball players to underperform and ensure their team did not cover spreads during games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
“Through several sportsbooks, Smith helped arrange large bets on those games, betting against the team whose player or players he had bribed to participate in this point-reduction scheme,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
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“Smith and other intermediaries approached and communicated with players, in person and through social media, text messages and cell phone calls, offering players bribe payments, which typically ranged from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.”
Since today’s college athletes are paid through name, image and likeness (NIL) branding deals, Smith and other intermediaries “specifically targeted college players for whom bribe payments would significantly 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 have been involved in the bribery and point-reduction scheme, with fixing or attempted fixing in more than 29 NCAA games.
The fixers were placing “bets totaling millions of dollars,” and the players involved were 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 for the athletic bribery charge, up to 20 years for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and a maximum of 15 years for the firearms charge.
NCAA President Charlie Baker responded to the point reduction plan in January.
NCAA President and former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is interviewed by Boston Globe Sports reporter Chris Gasper at the 2023 Globe Summit. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“Protecting the integrity of competition is of utmost importance to the NCAA. We are grateful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and game manipulation in college sports,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement.
Baker said the allegations were “not completely new information to the NCAA” as it had conducted “integrity investigations on approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year.”
