- Jalen Smith, who led a point-shaving and bribery scheme in college basketball games, was sentenced to six years in prison.
- Smith played a “central role” in a scheme that involved nearly 30 NCAA basketball games across the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons.
- The scheme resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent wagers, and Smith, alongside co-conspirators, paid players up to $30,000 per game to rig the outcome.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A federal judge sentenced Jalen Smith to six years in prison for his central role in a college basketball match-fixing scheme that resulted in more than $3 million of fraudulent wagers. Smith and his co-conspirators bribed players between $10,000 and $30,000 per game to fix games across multiple seasons.
Smith, alongside three other “fixers,” recruited 39 players across 17 teams during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. Some of the teams impacted include Buffalo, DePaul, Nicholls State, New Orleans, North Carolina A&T, Fordham, and many more.
However, not every bribe worked. In the case of the Fordham hoops scandal, fixers bribed Elijah Gray, but he reconsidered the bribe and played with normal effort, resulting in a Fordham win.
The fix impacted more than 29 different NCAA games. Smith’s scheme began with fixing games in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in Sept. 2022, before moving to NCAA games where players were paid to underperform and help their teams fail to cover the sports betting spread.
“Jalen Smith played a central role in this point-shaving scheme, which corrupted the integrity of NCAA games and the sport of basketball itself,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf in a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “As his prosecution and sentence show, we will not permit the criminal corruption of athletic competition to go unanswered. Those engaged in such behavior may profit in the short term, but they’ll lose much more when our team takes them to court.”
Jalen Smith’s Punishment For Match-Fixing Scheme
Jalen Smith pled guilty to one count each of bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and possession of a firearm by a felon. U.S. District Judge Nitza Quiñones Alejandro sentenced him to 72 months in prison, three years of supervised release, $1.1 million in restitution, and forfeiture of $75,000.
The sentencing comes before the start of the 2026-27 college basketball season.
