UPDATE: In a statement: Robert Morris says they have been made aware of an investigation and charges involving former members of our men's basketball program for actions that may have occurred during their enrollment at RMU. We are not aware of any allegations of wrongdoing by the university. RMU has been and will continue to cooperate fully with all relevant authorities,. As this is an ongoing matter involving the NCAA and federal law enforcement, we will not offer further comment at this time.
PHILADELPHIA (AP/KWY/KDKA Radio) — Federal prosecutors charged 20 people on Thursday, including 15 former college basketball players, including Robert Morris University players, in what they called a betting scheme to fix NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games.
Of the defendants, 15 played basketball for Division 1 NCAA schools as recently as the 2024-25 season.
The indictment says over 17 teams Division I teams tried to fix nearly 30 games.
Former Colonials player Markeese Hastings is the player Robert Morris player identified, per ESPN.
The other teams, along with Robert Morris, involved include: Alabama State, Butler, Fordham, Western Michigan University, Ohio University, Kent State, St. John's, Tulane, East Carolina, McNeese State, Nicholls State, St. Louis University, La Salle, SUNY Buffalo, Georgetown and DePaul.
The other five defendants were described by authorities as fixers.
“The player would agree to deliberately underperform in the game, in which is team was favored to lose by a certain amount of points, they would then try to lose the game by more than that amount,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf.
They include two men who prosecutors say worked in the training and development of basketball players. Another was a trainer and former coach, one was a former NCAA player and two were described as gamblers, influencers and sports handicappers.
The charges, filed in federal court in Philadelphia, include wire fraud.
In the 70-page indictment, authorities say the fixers recruited the college basketball players with “bribe payments” usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game.
NCAA President Charlie Baker issued a statement on the indictments
Protecting competition integrity is of the utmost importance for the NCAA. We are thankful for law enforcement agencies working to detect and combat integrity issues and match manipulation in college sports.
The indictment follows a series of NCAA investigations that led to at least 10 players receiving lifetime bans this year for bets that sometimes involved their own teams and their own performances. And the NCAA has said that at least 30 players have been investigated over gambling allegations.
More than 30 people were also charged in last year’s sprawling federal takedown of illegal gambling operations linked to professional basketball.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Duquesne as the local school involved.