The MAC is the dirtiest conference in football. Goes back several years when 7 MAC games were middled successfully by a large betting syndicate, based in several different states. All 7 of the games had huge line movements, with the games swinging back just before kick with huge amounts on the opposing side. Scooter McDougall, TB for the Rockets was implicated and charged with game fixing as well as several other athletes at Toledo University, from other sports teams. McDougall ratted out to get a lesser charge and his testimony was responsible for a huge bookie ring bust in Philly, I beleive.
Has been brushed under the rug by the NCAA, just like the Tim Donaghy scandal was in the NBA.
Has been brushed under the rug by the NCAA, just like the Tim Donaghy scandal was in the NBA.
I dug this up for those who may not have heard....
A former University of Toledo basketball player has been charged with fixing games in the latest development in a nearly two-year federal gambling probe.
Sammy Villegas is accused of shaving points in games during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, according to a federal indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Villegas is charged with conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. No trial date has been set, but court documents specify a sentencing date of Nov. 18, which may indicate that he is cooperating with the government.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine.
Villegas, a 6-foot-6 guard who finished his career at the school in 2006, is also accused of paying another Toledo player who took part in the point-shaving scheme, prosecutors said. The other player was not charged or named in the indictment, which was filed June 30.
Any cooperation by Villegas could be a breakthrough in the government's slow-moving investigation. Authorities have told ESPN.com that the probe is focused on 51-year-old Ghazi Manni, the manager of a family-owned grocery in Detroit.
Federal investigators have focused on both the Toledo men's basketball and football programs. Last year, former Toledo football running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle was charged on a similar gambling offense. Those charges were later dropped on a procedural matter, though authorities haven't ruled out the possibility that McDougle could be charged again.
According to sources, McDougle cooperated with investigators as they sought to make a case against Manni. Federal documents revealed that FBI agents used electronic surveillance to listen in to conversations between McDougle and Manni.
Manni declined comment Wednesday night when reached by ESPN.com.
In an interview last year, Manni said the feds had come by his store, but he declined to speak with them.
"They tried. They came up here," Manni said. "I got nothing to say to nobody."
At the time, Manni revealed a single-page federal document -- dated April 23, 2007 -- showing that a U.S. district court judge signed off on five separate wiretaps of Manni's phone. The wiretaps were in effect intermittently from November 2005 through December 2006.
The seven-page indictment filed against Villegas reveals that federal investigators picked up the player on at least four phone conversations, including three on the same day, with what is described as a "conspirator."
On Feb. 4, 2006, Villegas placed a call to a conspirator in Michigan at about 12:15 p.m. Villegas made another call to a conspirator in Michigan at 12:29 p.m. He made another at 3:57 p.m....
It goes on a bit but this covers the bulk of it.
A former University of Toledo basketball player has been charged with fixing games in the latest development in a nearly two-year federal gambling probe.
Sammy Villegas is accused of shaving points in games during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, according to a federal indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit. Villegas is charged with conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. No trial date has been set, but court documents specify a sentencing date of Nov. 18, which may indicate that he is cooperating with the government.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine.
Villegas, a 6-foot-6 guard who finished his career at the school in 2006, is also accused of paying another Toledo player who took part in the point-shaving scheme, prosecutors said. The other player was not charged or named in the indictment, which was filed June 30.
Any cooperation by Villegas could be a breakthrough in the government's slow-moving investigation. Authorities have told ESPN.com that the probe is focused on 51-year-old Ghazi Manni, the manager of a family-owned grocery in Detroit.
Federal investigators have focused on both the Toledo men's basketball and football programs. Last year, former Toledo football running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle was charged on a similar gambling offense. Those charges were later dropped on a procedural matter, though authorities haven't ruled out the possibility that McDougle could be charged again.
According to sources, McDougle cooperated with investigators as they sought to make a case against Manni. Federal documents revealed that FBI agents used electronic surveillance to listen in to conversations between McDougle and Manni.
Manni declined comment Wednesday night when reached by ESPN.com.
In an interview last year, Manni said the feds had come by his store, but he declined to speak with them.
"They tried. They came up here," Manni said. "I got nothing to say to nobody."
At the time, Manni revealed a single-page federal document -- dated April 23, 2007 -- showing that a U.S. district court judge signed off on five separate wiretaps of Manni's phone. The wiretaps were in effect intermittently from November 2005 through December 2006.
The seven-page indictment filed against Villegas reveals that federal investigators picked up the player on at least four phone conversations, including three on the same day, with what is described as a "conspirator."
On Feb. 4, 2006, Villegas placed a call to a conspirator in Michigan at about 12:15 p.m. Villegas made another call to a conspirator in Michigan at 12:29 p.m. He made another at 3:57 p.m....
It goes on a bit but this covers the bulk of it.
