The United States Department of Justice has charged former National Basketball Association (NBA) players Malik Beasley and Edward Davis alongside four other co-conspirators with fraud and money laundering over their alleged involvement in match-fixing. 

A statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York on Monday listed the other co-defendants as Robert Gorodetsky, Ernesto Plascencia, and current NBA player agent Paolo Zamorano, who colluded with Mr Beasley to fix matches while he was a player at Milwaukee Bucks. 

They were reportedly arrested at several locations in the United States on Monday and charged with wire fraud conspiracy, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.

The Justice Department stated that the co-defendants paid bribes to Mr Beasley to manipulate his performance in NBA games, which the suspects then used the insider knowledge of the predetermined outcomes to place bets, earning them hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

Ahead of the allegedly rigged games, Mr Beasley is alleged to have agreed with his former NBA teammate, Davis — whom the suspects referred to as Mr Beasley’s “gatekeeper” — that the player would either underperform or overperform.

“As alleged, the defendants turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation, bribing then-NBA player Malik Beasley to fix his performance in multiple games in order to place fraudulent wagers, enrich themselves and cheat legitimate sportsbooks,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr stated. 

He added, “Bribery and insider betting schemes like this one involving former NBA players and a current NBA player agent who exploited inside NBA information for profit erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public.  

“Our Office will continue in its strong tradition of holding accountable anyone who seeks to corrupt sports through illegal means.” 

The prosecutors listed the NBA games between Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers on January 26, 2024, Milwaukee Bucks Charlotte Hornets on February 27, 2024 and Milwaukee Bucks vs. Los Angeles Clippers on March 10, 2024 as matches the defendants manipulated. 

Prior to the Cavaliers’ game, Mr Beasley told Mr Davis that he intended to underperform in respect to rebounding in the game and was paid a bribe for the information. 

Against Charlotte, he agreed to underperform with respect to points and overperform with respect to rebounding in the game, while the premeditated outcome for the match against Clippers was to overperform with respect to rebounding in the game.