Philadelphia: Man Charged in NCAA Point-Shaving Scheme Over Mississippi Valley State and New Orleans Games

Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia have charged a Mississippi man with helping recruit and pay college basketball players to fix games for bettors, in the same point-shaving scheme for which “fixer” Jalen Smith was sentenced to six years in prison on Oct. 13, 2026.

Jalen Hills is charged with one count of bribery in sporting contests, along with aiding and abetting, in a criminal information filed on Oct. 22, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, according to the court docket (case No. 2:26-cr-00541). The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro. The charge has not been proven in court.

The 13-page information says Hills joined the scheme in or about December 2024 through his connection to Marves Fairley, who is charged in a separate indictment (No. 26-23), and helped recruit NCAA players to underperform. It ties him to games involving Mississippi Valley State and the University of New Orleans.

According to prosecutors, Hills approached a Mississippi Valley State player, identified only as Person #20, and got him to agree that his team would not cover a spread of about 28 points against Tulsa on Dec. 21, 2024. Before an earlier game against North Texas, which the document says was favored by 37 points, Hills texted the player: “yall spread -37 that’s a lot of points . . . I think yall can do it tho,” the document says. Tulsa beat Mississippi Valley State 93-48 at the Reynolds Center, the fixers won their bets, and Hills delivered a bribe payment to the player shortly after, prosecutors allege.

Late that month, the fixers, including Hills, recruited two New Orleans guards, who agreed in FaceTime calls to underperform for bribe payments, according to the information. On Dec. 27, 2024, before a game at McNeese State, Hills texted the players about how to do it: “Hell yea, it’s pretty easy just everybody gotta play they role, like Evb [Everybody] need to be playing content, Evb [Everybody] need have 2 turnovers, at least, cross the court passes, defensive breakdowns.”

Prosecutors list three New Orleans games they say were fixed. All three opponents covered the spread, and the fixers won their bets:

• Dec. 28, 2024: McNeese State won 86-61, favored by about 23 points.
• Dec. 30, 2024: Vanderbilt won 100-56, favored by about 33 points.
• Jan. 11, 2025: Southeastern Louisiana won 91-71, favored by about 6.5 points.

The information also describes the wider scheme: bribes usually ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 per game, and more than 39 players on more than 17 Division I teams who fixed or tried to fix more than 29 games. It names Jalen Smith among the fixers, and Game Empress reported on his sentencing.

Hills was charged by information rather than by a grand jury indictment. Under Rule 7 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, a felony can be prosecuted that way only if the defendant waives indictment in open court. The docket on CourtListener, which may not be complete, listed no hearing date as of Oct. 23, 2026. Bribery in sporting contests carries up to five years in prison under 18 U.S.C. § 224, and the government is also seeking forfeiture of any proceeds.

Featured image: The James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia in 2024. Photo: ajay_suresh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)