High-Stakes Sports Gambler Pleads Guilty in Connection With CBA/NCAA Bribery and Game-Fixing Scheme, NBA Betting and Money Laundering Conspiracy

PHILADELPHIA - United States 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 of this year in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ("EDPA").

In addition, 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.

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on February 27 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.

The CBA and NCAA game-fixing case was investigated by FBI Philadelphia, with valuable assistance from FBI New York and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The NBA sports betting and money laundering case was investigated by FBI New York and the New York Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Louis D. Lappen and Jerome M. Maiatico are prosecuting for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.