Former Pittsburgh College Basketball Player Indicted In Point-Shaving Scheme

PITTSBURGH, PA — A former player at a Pittsburgh-area university was one of 20 people indicted Thursday on charges related to fixing college basketball games in the U.S. and professional basketball games in China.

Fifteen of the people named in the 70-page indictment were basketball players; the other five were "fixers" who set up the rigging of games by paying the players between $10,000 and $30,000 per game fixed.

Court papers unsealed Thursday revealed charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aiding and abetting.

Former Robert Morris basketball player Markeese Hastings' play in two games in noted in the indictment. It states that Hastings and two other players underperformed in and influenced the first half of a game against Northern Kentucky in 2024.

The fixers placed bets with various sportsbooks totaling at least $256,000 on Northern Kentucky to cover the first-half spread, the indictment says.

"Without Robert Morris players intentionally underperforming in the second half of the game, Robert Morris played substantially better, with Robert Morris outscoring Northern Kentucky 37 to 29," the indictment states.

The other two Robert Morris players were not named in the court document.

In the second game, Robert Morris played Purdue University Fort Wayne in a postseason game in the first round of the Horizon League Basketball Championships at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, according to the indictment. The fixers allegedly placed wagers totaling at least $50,000 on Purdue F.W. to cover the first-half spread.

Hastings and the other two players allegedly underperformed in the game’s first half, influencing the game so that Purdue would outscore RMU 46-28. The fixers subsequently won their bets.

The indictment also noted that two games involving Duquesne University allegedly were impacted by the scheme, but no Duquesne players were involved. Those games involved players from St. Louis University and Fordham University.