My Philly Daily On Crime Column: Sports Gambling, Bribery, Money Laundering, And Game-Fixing

Philly Daily ran my On Crime column today. You can read the column via the link below or the following text:

Paul Davis: sports gambling, bribery, money laundering, and game-fixing – Philly Daily 

In my late teens and 20s I was a gambling fool. I was a young, happy and adventuresome gambler. I liked the “action.”

I was a fair poker player, and I bet heavily on sports. When I won, I bought rounds of drinks at the South Philly bar where my crowd gathered, and I took girlfriends to expensive dinners. When I lost, I borrowed money from loan sharks. I was free of true responsibility at the time, as I was unmarried, had no children, and I did not own a home. I stopped gambling when I met a beautiful woman who later became my wife.

In my time I saw other gamblers go into heavy debt and I saw how gambling ruined their relationships with their families. Excessive gambling has ruined nearly as many lives as drug addiction and alcoholism.

Back in 2022 I interviewed former New York Columbo Cosa Nostra organized crime family captain Michael Franzese (seen in the above photo). He made millions of dollars with criminal scams, such as cheating the government out of gasoline taxes. He was also involved with traditional Cosa Nostra criminal activity, such as illegal gambling.

After fighting the federal government’s many indictments against him, he pled guilty to racketeering charges and was sentenced to ten years in federal prison. 

While in prison, Franzese became a devout Christian and announced that he was walking away from Cosa Nostra. He is the only high-ranking member of a major crime family to walk away from the mob without being in the witness protection program. Although the Colombo family initially put out a contract on his life, he now lives openly.

Today he is a popular podcaster and public speaker, Franzese has testified before government and sporting industry committees, colleges and prisons about how criminals become involved in the world of sports.   

“I used to be the guy bringing athletes in. Now I’m the guy warning them. Twenty years speaking to pro teams, colleges, and sports organizations - teaching them how to avoid the exact situations I used to create,” Franzese said: “It’s all about education and enforcement, and the two have to go hand in hand. You’ve first got to let the players know, and those associated with the game, what the dangers are, how they can get themselves caught up.

“You could be in a gambling situation and not realize you’re hanging with the wrong people, and before you know it, you’re in over your head financially, and somebody’s taking advantage of you; and you don’t have any way out other than to compromise a game. That’s what I used to do: put a player in that position to where he had to do our bidding.”

Which brings me to two recent prosecutions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) in Philadelphia.  

On October 13^th, U.S. Attorney David Metcalf (seen in the top photo) announced that Jalen Smith, 30, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was sentenced to 72 months in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution of approximately $1.1 million, and forfeiture of $75,000 by United States District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro, for his role in a bribery and point-shaving scheme to fix National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) Division I men’s basketball games, as well as a firearms offense.

According to the USAO, Smith was charged by indictment in January of this year in connection with the bribery and point-shaving scheme. He was subsequently charged by information with possession of a firearm by a felon, arising from a 2025 search of Smith’s Charlotte residence, in which a loaded semi-automatic pistol was recovered.

In March, Smith pleaded 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.

“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 Metcalf. “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.”

Wayne A. Jacobs, the Special Agent in Charge of FBI Philadelphia, added, “Today’s sentencing sends a clear message: Those who exploit professional and collegiate athletes for personal gain will be held accountable. This conduct does more than harm individual athletes. It undermines the integrity of sports and the trust placed in fair competition. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those who seek to manipulate that trust for their own financial benefit and ensure they are held responsible for their actions.”

As detailed in court filings, “the overall scheme to influence or fix CBA and NCAA men’s basketball games lasted from approximately September 2022 to February 2025. After co-schemers profited on fixed CBA games, they turned their attention to influencing NCAA men’s basketball games.

“Jalen Smith was a “fixer” in the scheme, working together with others to recruit and bribe NCAA men’s basketball players to underperform and help ensure their team failed to cover the spread in games during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 NCAA men’s basketball seasons,” the USAO stated. “Then, through various sportsbooks, Smith helped to arrange for large wagers to be placed on those games, betting against the team whose player or players they had bribed to engage in this point-shaving scheme. Smith had a leadership role in the scheme, particularly in recruiting, managing, and paying players for their roles in the scheme.”

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.

“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. The fixers also generally targeted in their scheme players on teams that were underdogs in games and sought to have them fail to cover the spreads in those games. Many of these players accepted the offers and agreed to help fix specific games so that the fixers would win their wagers. 

In total, the USAO noted, bribery and point-shaving scheme involved more than 39 players on over 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams, who fixed and attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA games. The scheme also resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent wagers placed on these games, and more than $1.1 million in financial losses to sportsbooks throughout the country.

On October 15^th, U. S. Attorney David Metcalf announced that Shane Hennen, aka “Sugar Shane,” 41, of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty before United States District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro on Wednesday to bribery in sporting contests, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and three counts of wire fraud, arising from a years-long scheme to influence or “fix” Chinese Basketball Association (“CBA”) games and National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) men’s Division I basketball games. The defendant was charged by indictment in January in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

In addition, the USAO stated that Hennen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, as charged by superseding indictment in May of this year in the Eastern District of New York (“EDNY”). Those charges arose from his participation in a scheme to defraud betting companies by wagering on National Basketball Association (“NBA”) games with the improper benefit of having non-public information that would affect the outcome of those games and the performance of certain individuals in those games, and his participation in laundering the proceeds.

As detailed in court filings, “beginning in or about September 2022, Hennen and others worked together in a scheme that involved recruiting and bribing players to help fix CBA games through point-shaving during the 2022-2023 season. Hennen’s primary role in the scheme was to place bets and arrange for others to place large bets on the fixed games — betting against the teams whose players they had bribed to underperform.

“After profiting on the CBA games, the schemers turned their attention to NCAA men’s basketball games. During the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 seasons, fixers agreed to recruit NCAA players who would accept bribe payments in exchange for helping to influence outcomes of NCAA basketball games. In particular, the fixers agreed to recruit into the scheme players who would help ensure that their team failed to cover the spread of the first half of a game or an entire game.

“In total, the bribery and point-shaving scheme involved more than 39 players, on over 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams, who fixed and attempted to fix more than 29 NCAA games. The scheme also resulted in more than $3 million in fraudulent wagers placed on these games, and more than $1.1 million in financial losses to sportsbooks throughout the country.

In the EDNY prosecution, conspirators obtained insider information from several NBA players and coaches and distributed that information through a network of bettors, including Hennen. Hennen and others then placed and directed wagers through online sportsbooks and retail betting outlets, falsely representing that their wagers complied with the betting companies’ rules — which included not betting on non-public information or using straw bettors - while concealing that their wagers were based on confidential team information.

According to the USAO, Hennen is scheduled to be sentenced on February 25 in Philadelphia. In the EDPA case, he faces a maximum possible sentence of 85 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a monetary fine, and restitution. In the EDNY case, Hennen faces a maximum possible sentence of 40 years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release, a monetary fine, and restitution.

Paul Davis’ On Crime column appears here each week. He can be reached via pauldavisoncrime.com.