Many college players among dozens charged in point-shaving plot

ESPN ^ | Jan. 15, 2026 | David Purdum

[ConservativeStatement]

A college basketball point-shaving scheme involving more than 39 players on 17 NCAA Division I teams resulted in dozens of games in the previous two seasons being fixed by a gambling ring that included a former NBA player, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Twenty of the 26 defendants played college basketball during the 2023-24 and/or 2024-25 seasons, according to the indictment. Four of the players charged -- Simeon Cottle, Carlos Hart, Camian Shell and Oumar Koureissi -- have played for their current teams in the past week.

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: basketball; chinese; culturerot; gamblingring; payingplayers; pointshaving; sportsgambling

[Republican Wildcat]

Now who could have predicted this...? < / s >

[cgbg]

Sports gambling and game fixing was better when the Mob controlled it.

“I loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the World Series in 1919.”

Hyman Roth

[gunnut]

Tip of the iceberg in my opinion.

[wally_bert]

Those student atha-a-letes......

[StAnDeliver]

Ghetto networks.

I mean New Orleans is a $10 Uber ride to Tulane, or cheaper if you just steal a car.

Surprised by St. Louis, Jesuit school with a reputation to protect. Somebody got paid to look the other way.

Although, now that I think about it, Tulane and St. Louis used to be the in old Metro conference, along with -- surprise surprise -- Southern Miss. And indeed none other than Tulane spent about half-a-decade riding the pine kicked out of the Metro for point-shaving in the mid-80s.

[dfwgator]

[lowbridge]

[econjack]

I wonder how high those four will go in the draft?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I recently read the book Wise Guys. the basis for the movie Good Fellas which was about the Lufthansa heist, in 1978. Most of the action was in my old haunts in Queens, but they got involved in trying to bribe Boston College players to point shave, and it didn't go well. The hoods didn't make much money net, and even lost some when BC won a game it was favored to lose and the mobsters thought they had a lock on a loss below the spread. The college kids were not dependable.

[PGalt]

Any Somalians playing basketball? /s

[BenLurkin]

Saw a portion of a Steelers game where guys were dropping easy passes and missing obvious blocks.

[Ditto]

Brough to you by…

[Hyman Roth]

I remember when I said that.

[cgbg]

You were good at cutting cake as well.

Lol.

[BenLurkin]

[RightOnTheBorder]

Why is it illegal to point shave in a college game? This is not professional sports and these are not employees. Could it be that colleges, bookies, betters, and a whole host of other individuals have created a lucrative professional sports league on the backs of unpaid “students?”

How about we revoke their scholarships lol.

[FoxInSocks]

The defendants are charged with bribery in sporting contests and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

[T.B. Yoits]

Vegas doesn’t like it when someone other than their handlers arrange point shaving.

[Kid Shelleen]

Very entertaining.

“Playing for the Mob” makes good use of Scorsese’s classic, splicing in “Goodfellas” clips between interviews and using Liotta as the film’s narrator.

'30 For 30' tackles BC point-shaving scandal