A game-fixing recruiter involved in the college basketball betting scandal pleaded guilty to wire fraud and bribery charges.
Key Takeaways
- Jalen Smith faces up to 20 years for wire fraud and five years for bribery.
- He’s the first defendant in the college basketball scheme case to enter a plea.
- Smith allegedly paid out over $30,000 to players who fixed games to aid bettors.
Jalen Smith, one of 26 people accused of running a point-shaving scheme, became the first defendant to issue a formal plea in a Philadelphia federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District announced Monday.
Smith used his connections as a basketball trainer and developer to recruit players to fix college games to defraud sportsbooks and other bettors, federal prosecutors say. Smith, who’s from Charlotte, allegedly helped run the scheme during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons and promised players payments if they underperformed.
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud comes with a possible 20-year sentence for each count. Smith also faces up to five years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine for the bribery charge, according to district attorneys. He also pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm.
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Worldwide scheme
Betting on the other team, the fixers wagered millions of dollars and paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars to players. Smith bet “large” amounts on games, and he was charged with delivering $32,000 in to players in Louisiana.
“In early March 2024, for example, Smith and other fixers recruited and offered a bribe to a player on an NCAA men’s basketball team, and the player agreed to underperform in an upcoming game,” federal prosecutors said. “Around halftime of that game, when the score was tied, Smith texted the player, expressed his concern about the score, and urged the player to underperform in the second half, telling him that the game ‘need(ed) to be a blowout,’ that the player was ‘supposed to be ... losing’ and was costing him money, and that the team needed to get ‘blow(n) out next half.’”
The indictment, which was publicly released in January, says Smith was part of a gambling ring that began recruiting fixers with the Chinese Basketball Association in 2023.
“Smith and other fixers specifically targeted college players for whom the bribe payments would meaningfully supplement, or exceed, the student-athletes’ legitimate opportunities for ‘Name-Image-Likeness’ compensation,” federal prosecutors said. “The fixers also generally targeted their scheme players on teams that were underdogs in games and sought to have them fail to cover the spreads in those games.”
Former NBA player Antonio Blakeney is reportedly one of the players involved in recruiting for CBA scheme.
College involvement
Smith joined the fixer group shortly after, and the bettors targeted more than 40 schools, leading to 17 former players being indicted. The scheme involved 39 players from more than 17 NCAA teams and included 29 games that were fixed as late as January 2025.
The schools named in the indictment include Nicholls State, Tulane, Northwestern State, Saint Louis, LaSalle, Fordham, Buffalo, DePaul, Robert Morris, Southern Miss, North Carolina A&T, Kennesaw State, Coppin State, New Orleans, Abilene Christian, Eastern Michigan, and Alabama State.
“Smith and other fixers approached and communicated with the players, in person and through social media, text message communications, and cellular telephone calls, offering the players bribe payments, usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game,” prosecutors said.
