One of the so-called fixers in a sprawling betting scheme that allegedly raked in millions of dollars off of big bets on rigged NCAA basketball games pleaded guilty Monday.
Jalen Smith appeared in federal court in Philadelphia and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and bribery charges, becoming the first of 26 people charged in the scheme to formally do so. It came a week before the start of March Madness, in which bettors will wager billions legally — and illegally — on the 64 college basketball teams in the tournament.
Smith, of Charlotte, North Carolina, trained and developed local basketball players for professional scouting combines and used those connections with players when he became part of the scheme, according to prosecutors.
Charges against Smith and 25 others were unsealed in January. Besides the fixers who recruited players and placed bets, the charges targeted 17 former college basketball players and four other players who were active with their college teams this season.
More than a dozen players tried to fix games as recently as last season and some helped recruit other players, federal prosecutors said.
It is the latest gambling scandal to hit the sports world since a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision unleashed a meteoric rise in legal sports betting.
Smith was active in helping fix games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, placing bets and recruiting players with the promise of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game, prosecutors said.
The fixers would then bet against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors, authorities said.
Smith often traveled to meet players to deliver cash payments by hand, prosecutors said. In one case, Smith traveled to Louisiana to arrange the delivery of about $32,000 in cash to two of the players charged in the scheme, prosecutors said.
Smith also pleaded guilty to a separate weapons charge, stemming from an FBI search of Smith’s bedroom at a house in North Carolina last May where agents found a loaded handgun in a hamper underneath some clothing.
Source: WPLG
