Ohio State Addresses College Basketball Point-Shaving Indictments
Ohio State University released a statement on Friday following a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, regarding a men’s college basketball point-shaving scheme.
The scandal involves more than 39 players on 17 NCAA Division I teams that resulted in dozens of games in the previous two seasons being fixed by a gambling ring that included a former NBA player.
Ohio State Not Involved In Point-Shaving Scheme
According to the indictment, 20 of the 26 defendants played college basketball during the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 seasons.
Four of the players charged — Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Camian Shell and Oumar Koureissi — have played for their current teams in the past week.
The allegations against Hart, Shell, and Koureissi stem from their previous schools, while Cottle’s alleged incident occurred in the 2023-24 season.
None of the allegations against them were from this season.
In response to the arrests and charges, the Ohio State University Department of Athletics released this sad, yet comical statement in a social media post on X:
“We are aware of the ongoing investigation into alleged point-shaving in NCAA men’s college basketball. Although many of you would think our play on the court says otherwise, we have not been involved in any point-shaving scheme whatsoever. We are just not very good. Wanted to clear that up. On a positive note, our first football game is only 232 days away.”
Eastern Michigan also said in a statement that Hart has been suspended from all team activities pending the outcome of the case while Kennesaw State announced that Cottle has been suspended indefinitely from team activities.
Ex-NBA Player Antonio Blakeney Was Involved
The five defendants are described as “fixers,” who recruited players to participate in the scheme and offered bribes ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 to intentionally underperform. The bettors then placed and won millions of dollars in wagers on the fixed games.
Former NBA player Antonio Blakeney was named but not charged in the indictment.
Blakeney allegedly was part of the group that recruited players to participate in the scheme and offered bribes, and he has been charged separately.
According to Basketball Reference, Blakeney was a standout at LSU before playing two seasons with the Chicago Bulls (2017-19). He has since played overseas in China and Israel.
If convicted on a bribery in sporting contests charge, the maximum possible sentence a defendant would face is five years of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.
Each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud brings a maximum possible sentence of 20 years of imprisonment, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, if convicted.
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