US prosecutors have charged 26 people in an alleged scheme designed to enrich sports gamblers, involving university basketball players.
The scheme allegedly involved 39 players, and 17 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's basketball teams attempting to fix or fixing 29 US games, and two Chinese Basketball Association games.
"This was a massive scheme," US Attorney David Metcalf told reporters during a news conference on Thursday. "It enveloped the world of college basketball."
The charges come on the heels of a separate case of sprawling illegal betting schemes involving National Basketball Association (NBA) personalities and the New York mafia.
The indictment alleges that from September 2022 to February 2025 the individuals influenced or fixed NCAA games as well as Chinese Basketball Association men's basketball games.
