Friday, January 16, 2026
PHOTO: Big East
The news of the federal indictment on Thursday involving college basketball, 39 players, and 17 schools is just the latest in an explosion of corruption cases involving sports.
Three Atlantic-10 teams were named — La Salle, Fordham, and St. Louis — as well as one Big East school, DePaul.
No longer can you be assured when watching the University of Rhode Island or Providence College play, that all of the players in the game are focused on winning.
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This latest set of indictments and two previous indictments highlight the spread of corruption in sports gambling.
Fix Was in for this Big East Game
The Department of Justice this is how the scheme worked:
In or about late February 2024, in FaceTime communications among the fixers and the DePaul players, defendants JALEN TERRY and DA’SEAN NELSON, and Micawber Etienne and Person #6, agreed to fix an upcoming DePaul game in exchange for bribe payments.
In particular, shortly before the NCAA men’s basketball game between DePaul and the Georgetown University Hoyas Men’s Basketball Team (“Georgetown”) on or about February 24, 2024, the players agreed to underperform in and influence the first half of the Georgetown game so that DePaul would not cover the first half spread. Georgetown was favored by approximately 2.5 points for the first half at sportsbooks throughout the United States and elsewhere.
On or about February 23, 2024, defendants JALEN SMITH, ALBERTO LAUREANO, and JALEN TERRY, and Micawber Etienne, communicated via text to further ensure that the DePaul players agreed to participate in the scheme. For example, Etienne texted defendant SMITH, “Just talked to them it’s a lock ima call you after practice.”
Before the NCAA men’s basketball game between DePaul and Georgetown on or about February 24, 2024, the fixers and others acting at their direction, including defendant MARYES FAIRLEY, placed at least approximately $27,000 in wagers with sportsbooks on Georgetown to cover the first half spread of approximately 2.5 points.
On or about February 24, 2024, in the NCAA men’s basketball game between Georgetown and DePaul, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, defendants JALEN TERRY and DA’SEAN NELSON, and Micawber Etienne and Person #6, underperformed in and influenced the first half as they had agreed.
Georgetown outscored DePaul 41 to 28 in the first half, covering the spread of approximately 2.5 points, and the fixers won their bets.
Around halftime of this game, when it was clear that the point-shaving scheme was succeeding, defendant JALEN SMITH texted Etienne about arranging to pay the bribe money and complimented defendants TERRY and NELSON for underperforming as they had agreed: “I love Jalen Terry, he perfected his job … Sh*t Nelson snapped too.”
Without the DePaul players intentionally underperforming in the second half of the game, DePaul played substantially better, outscoring Georgetown 48 to 36. Georgetown won the game 77 to 76, as defendant TERRY scored zero points in the first half of this game and 16 points in the second half.
Shortly after this game, on or about February 25, 2024, defendant JALEN SMITH traveled to Chicago, Illinois, and delivered $40,000 in cash to make the bribe payments owed to defendants JALEN TERRY and DA’SEAN NELSON, and Micawber Etienne and Person #6, for influencing the first half of their game against Georgetown.
Defendant SMITH communicated via text with Etienne about delivering the bribe payments and fixing another upcoming DePaul game. Etienne told defendant SMITH, “[J]ust hit me we got another game this weekend.” Defendant SMITH also texted Antonio Blakeney, telling him that he was traveling to Chicago to deliver the cash bribes and included a photograph of a large amount of cash that he was going to provide to the players.
This was repeated by DePaul players in a game against Butler.
The games, according to the DOJ, were fixed
Everyone’s In the Game – The Sports Betting Game
The use of sports gambling platforms to fix games brings the integrity of the game into question.
Don’t look for ESPN to lead the investigative journalism – ESPN’s own gambling platform is critical to its business model. Gambling promotions are baked into nearly every aspect of ESPN’s and other sports broadcasting.
NCAA President and former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker issued a statement late on Thursday saying in part, “Our enforcement staff has opened sports betting integrity investigations into approximately 40 student-athletes from 20 schools over the past year. While some of the investigations are ongoing, 11 student-athletes from seven schools were recently found to have bet on their own performances, shared information with known bettors, and/or engaged in game manipulation to collect on bets they – or others – placed.”
SOURCE: New Jersey Attorney General
“This behavior resulted in a permanent loss of NCAA eligibility for all of them. Additionally, 13 student-athletes from eight schools (including some of those identified above) were found to have failed to cooperate in the sports betting integrity investigation by providing false or misleading information, failing to provide relevant documentation and/or refusing to be interviewed by the enforcement staff. None of them are competing today,” Baker added.
Thursday’s announcement comes on the heels of the announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice in October of 2025 that NBA players were allegedly fixing games.
And then in November, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, the Division of Criminal Justice (DCJ), and the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) announced charges against 14 people for their roles in a multimillion-dollar sports betting ring operated by a member and associates of organized crime.
One Rhode Island man was arrested as part of that sweep.
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