Two former Fordham men’s basketball players were implicated in a point-shaving scheme to “fix” National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) basketball games, according to a federal indictment released on Jan. 15.
Elijah Gray and another unknown player referred to as “Person G” were cited in the indictment unsealed by the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The case charges 26 people with alleged bribery and point-shaving schemes in both NCAA Division I and Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) men’s basketball games from 2023 to 2025.
The indictment implicates “more than 39 players on more than 17 different NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams,” mentioning schemes to “fix” 29 NCAA Division I men’s basketball games.
In a press conference announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, David Metcalf, commented on the severity of the case in relation to upholding the integrity of professional and collegiate sporting contests.
It’s also yet another blow to public confidence in the integrity of sport, which rests on the fundamental principles of fairness, honesty, and respect for the rules of competition. David Metcalf, U.S. Attorney of the Easter District of Pennsylvania
“It’s also yet another blow to public confidence in the integrity of sport, which rests on the fundamental principles of fairness, honesty, and respect for the rules of competition. When criminal acts threaten to corrupt such a central institution of American life, the Department of Justice won’t hesitate to step in,” Metcalf said.
The scheme, outlined in the unsealed files, was led by a group of six “fixers,” a name given in the indictment to the group who recruited players, placed bets on games in the CBA and NCAA, and paid bribes to the defendants if the wagers were successful.
The scheme is estimated to have started at the beginning of September 2022. Before men’s CBA games, the “fixers” bribed players to underperform, ensuring their teams would fail to cover the game spreads.
Spreads are created by oddsmakers to balance the betting margin so that favorites to win must do so by more than the points outlined in the spread, while the underdog must lose by less than that number.
Gray was offered “a bribe of approximately $10,000 or $15,000 to underperform in an upcoming Fordham basketball game.”
The “fixers” would then set wagers against teams whose athletes they had bribed to underperform; if the bets were successful, the “fixers” would travel to pay the players bribes in cash.
After profiting off the CBA games, several of the “fixers” turned their sights on NCAA men’s basketball games. They used the same system of recruitment and bribery to “fix” games. These events are alleged to have occurred during both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 NCAA men’s basketball seasons.
Allegedly, “in or about late February 2024,” one of the “fixers”, Jalen Smith, referred to as “Person A” in the indictment, contacted Gray through social media to recruit him to participate in the sports betting scheme during Gray’s second and last season with the Rams. Gray and Smith are said to have already had an established relationship, as Smith was a member of the basketball community in North Carolina where Gray grew up.
According to the indictment, Gray was offered “a bribe of approximately $10,000 or $15,000 to underperform in an upcoming Fordham basketball game,” and understood that the “fixers” would then place bets in order to profit off Fordham’s inability to cover their spread.
Gray agreed to not only underperform in the then-upcoming Fordham basketball game against the Duquesne University Dukes on Feb. 23, 2024, but after a follow-up FaceTime call with Smith and other “fixers,” he recruited a fellow Ram referred to as “Person G” to participate in the scheme.
The participants in the scheme then placed wagers on the Dukes leading up to the game on Feb. 23, 2024 that added up to around $195,000. In the majority of the bets placed on the Dukes, Duquesne was favored to win the game against the Rams by 3.5 points.
The scheme for Gray and “Person G” to ensure that Fordham underperformed seemed to be working according to plan in the first half of the game against Duquesne, as the Rams were outscored 32 to 26. However, despite Gray and “Person G” scoring below their averages by three and five points respectively, Fordham came back in the second half to win the game 79-67.
Unable to influence the spread of the game, the wagers on Duquesne for the full game failed. After the scheme proved unsuccessful, Smith reached out to Gray, who responded that he had “tried” and that the Duquesne players were not “hoopin(g),” to which Smith told Gray “you did your job for sure.”
Gray continued to play for the Rams for the rest of the 2023-24 season and the game between the Rams and the Dukes on Feb. 23 is the only game mentioned in Gray’s indictment. At the end of the season, Gray averaged 8.12 field goal attempts per game, a notable difference from the four attempts he put up during the “fixed” game against Duquesne.
After the conclusion of the 2023-24 season, Gray transferred from Fordham to Temple University and played for the Owls through his junior year. He then transferred once again to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison). Gray was ultimately released from the UW-Madison men’s program in October, with the university citing “events preceding Gray’s enrollment” as the motivation behind his dismissal.
As reported by Sports Illustrated on Jan. 15, Gray entered a plea agreement on Dec. 23, in which he “pleaded guilty to one count of bribery in sporting contests.” His sentencing is tentatively scheduled for March 18. According to the indictment website, the maximum possible sentence for a defendant if convicted on a bribery in sporting contests charge is five years of imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
