PHILADELPHIA, Pa. (WLOX) – On Thursday, one of the largest sports gambling schemes in history was unveiled. According to court documents, more than 39 players across 17 different NCAA Division I teams participated in a points-shaving scheme that resulted in dozens of games being fixed over the past two seasons.
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According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the scheme was led by six different fixers:
- Marves Fairley, 40, of Carson, Miss.
- Jalen Smith, 30, of Charlotte, N.C.
- Shane Hennen, 40, of Las Vegas, Nev. and Philadelphia, Pa.
- Antonio Blakeney, 29, of Kissimmee, Fla.
- Roderick Winkler, 31, of Little Rock, Ark.
- Albert Laureano, 24, of Bronx, N.Y.
An indictment states that starting in September 2022, a group including Fairley and Hennen began recruiting players willing to help fix Chinese Basketball Association games. One of those players was Blakeney, an LSU alum and former NBA player who was then rostered by the CBA’s Jiangsu Dragons and was one of the league’s leading scorers.
After successfully rigging CBA games, officials say the group moved on to fixing NCAA games. Court documents state the group tried to fix at least 29 games.
Three of those involved Southern Miss, and officials claim one of them roped in another player at a different school.
Southern Miss: Mo Arnold, “Person #9″ and “Person #10″
Mo Arnold(USM Athletics)
Though the scheme ran from 2022 to 2025, Southern Miss players weren’t contacted until late February 2024. Fairley, Smith, and Blakeney all put efforts towards recruiting Picayune alum and Golden Eagles guard Arlando “Mo” Arnold, along with two other unnamed Golden Eagles players who appear in court documents as “Person #9″ and “Person #10.”
In FaceTime calls, all three players agreed to throw a game on February 28, 2024, against South Alabama, who was favored to lead by 1.5 after the first half according to sportsbooks throughout the country. Before the game, Fairley, Hennen, and others following their lead placed bets of roughly $275,000 on South Alabama to cover the first half spread. Parlays were also placed, which included other fixed games.
In texts between Fairley and another bettor, Fairley confirmed Arnold agreed to fix the game, telling the bettor, “we locked in[.] he [Arnold] gone call after practice tho.”
During the game, Arnold went the entire first half without scoring a point and finished the game with 2 despite playing 20 minutes. Despite his efforts, the first half ended in a tie score, and the fixers lost their bets.
Following the failed attempt and given the major losses, Arnold agreed to make up for it by helping fix the team’s next game against the Louisiana Rajin’ Cajuns on March 1, 2024. Shortly before the game, Arnold and the two unnamed players FaceTimed with Fairley and Blakeney. In that call, all three players agreed to underperform. “Person #9″ even agreed to sit out.
When the game began, Louisiana was favored by 5 points in the first half. Hennen, Blakeney, and others placed bets totaling roughly $161,000 on Louisiana to cover the first half spread. As agreed upon, the three USM players underperformed, and Louisiana led 39-23 going into halftime. In the second half, Southern Miss played significantly better, scoring 38 points. Louisiana won the game, 77-61.
On March 3, 2024, Fairley texted a co-schemer to arrange bribe payments to Arnold and his teammates for successfully fixing the game against Louisiana. One text read, “I’m gone swing by [the co-schemer’s] spot later and give him the bread.” Fairley paid Arnold and his two teammates tens of thousands of dollars.
After the Louisiana game and successfully receiving his payment, Arnold continued to help recruit other NCAA men’s basketball players for the point-shaving scheme. He’d later work with Smith to try to recruit other Southern Miss players to the scheme in December 2024. Court documents don’t state whether or not those players agreed.
UNO: Carlos Hart
Carlos Hart(UNO Athletics)
In at least one instance, the point-shaving scheme not only ran through Hattiesburg, but also touched Coast casinos.
In March 2024, a group of fixers, including Smith, Fairley, Winkler and Blakeney, recruited Carlos Hart, a guard at the University of New Orleans. As part of the recruitment process, the fixers used Arnold to help encourage him. Hart agreed and recruited a teammate, listed as “Person #14,” to join him at the group’s request.
On March 11, 2024, UNO played against Lamar in a postseason game in the second round of the Southland Conference Basketball Championship. Lamar was favored by 11 points.
After recruiting “Person #14,” one of UNO’s leading scorers, Hart FaceTimed with him and the fixers to discuss how they’d throw the game. The fixers offered the two a total of $20,000 to ensure that New Orleans failed to cover the spread. Before the game, Fairley, Hennen, Winkler and others all placed bets totaling at least $150,000 on Lamar to cover.
During the game, both Hart and “Person #14″ underperformed. Hart scored just one point, and Lamar won the game, 71-57.
On March 12, 2024, Fairley arranged for a co-schemer to deliver $20,000 in cash to Hart at a casino in Biloxi. The payment was made as planned.
Hart is at least one of four UNO players involved in the scheme, with former players Cedquavious Hunter, Dyquavian Short and Jamond Vincent being banned from the NCAA for life in November 2025.
Hart now plays for Eastern Michigan University — a program that also had players involved in the scheme before his transfer.
Alabama State: Shawn Fulcher and CJ Hines
Shawn Fulcher, CJ Hines(Alabama State University Athletics)
Southern Miss basketball was mentioned in at least one other case.
For the 2024-2025 season, guard Shawn Fulcher transferred from Buffalo to Alabama State. During his time at Buffalo, Fulcher fixed games. He continued even after his transfer, working closely with Smith and recruiting other teammates — guard CJ Hines and two others referred to in court documents as “Person #16″ and “Person #17.”
On November 10, 2024, Smith sent the following text, referring as to what would happen if he managed to recruit Hines and the two others: “on my mama u gone be a rich young man this year.”
Fulton responded with: “Bro honestly we need to get this sh*t rolling the right way asap! I ain’t even touch the floor tonight idk why or what my coach on but at this point I don’t even give a f*ck I’m just tryna get paid bro! I got my [teammates] on board…so we good.”
Later in the exchange, Smith added that he wanted to make a bet of $100,000. Fulcher responded with, “Say no more Ima get on the phone with yall after practice.”
On December 5, 2024, before a game against Southern Miss, Fulcher sent the following text when referring to a conversation with Hines: “And I spoke to [Hines] I told [Hines] straight up. don’t not try no extra sh*t today or get off crazy and i got sum extra bread for you.”
Southern Miss was favored by 6 points for the full game. Smith told the players that he would make sure they were “situated” and told them to lose by “like 8″ so he wouldn’t “stress. After Fulcher and his teammates reassured him, Smith sent a picture of a large stack of cash that he said he was betting on the game.
Before tip-off, Smith tried to place a $50,000 bet at a casino in Kentucky on Southern Miss to cover the spread. The casino rejected the bet, but allowed Smith to bet $860 instead.
As the game went on, Fulcher, Hines and the two other players underperformed as agreed upon. However, Alabama State led by 3 at halftime, causing Smith to send a text to the players telling them to, “LET [Southern Miss] LAY IT UP.” “Person #17″ responded to the texts, saying that Southern Miss was “so bad” that the players were having trouble throwing the game.
Southern Miss outscored Alabama State 51-31 in the second half, allowing the Golden Eagles to easily cover the spread with an 81-64 victory.
Shortly after the game, Smith sent texts to the players saying he planned to fly to Mississippi to pay them for fixing the game. However, Smith didn’t deliver, and the players were never paid.
MVSU: Donovan Sanders and Alvin Stredic Jr.
Donovan Sanders, Alvin Stredric Jr.(Aliyah Hill/Destini Banks)
Former MGCCC star Donovan Sanders is also heavily involved with the betting scheme. Sanders transferred to Mississippi Valley State University in 2023, where he appeared in 59 games across two seasons.
In November 2025, the NCAA revoked the eligibility of six NCAA basketball players. Two of them were from MVSU, including Sanders, who allegedly provided information to a third party that had placed wagers on two separate Delta Devils games.
Prior to MVSU’s game on December 21, 2024, against Tulsa, a teammate overheard Sanders on the phone talking about “throwing the gam.” Later, photo images revealed incriminating texts that Sanders couldn’t explain.
On January 6, 2025, MVSU’s game against Alabama A&M was flagged as suspicious due to it being 3.6x higher than the average betting handle of Southwest Athletic Conference games. Sanders and his teammate, Alvin Stredic Jr., were offered money to throw the game by another anonymous caller who told them to play poorly in the first half.
That night, Stredic scored only one point in 33 minutes sandwiched between a 21-point performance two nights before and a 17-point showing one game later.
The wagers for that game were placed in Mississippi casinos.
Both Sanders and Stredic are no longer enrolled at the university.
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To read the US Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s full press release, click here.
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