Last month, a little-known sports gambler who calls himself the “best that ever did it” attempted to board a flight from Las Vegas to Colombia, connecting through Panama, with a one-way ticket. Shane Hennen soon found himself in an upright and locked position. Federal agents who arrested him say he was carrying multiple cellphones, nearly $10,000 in cash and an alibi he offered “unprompted”: He was traveling to Colombia for dental treatment.

Authorities say Hennen helped orchestrate what appears to be one of the most pervasive point-shaving scandals in North American sports history.

The scandal, which appears to touch both pro and college basketball, has already generated a few headlines, but the sports world has not come to grips with just how widespread this scheme could be. In a court filing last month, the office of acting U.S. Attorney Carolyn Pokorny of the Eastern District of New York vouched for “substantial evidence” that Hennen was involved in “illicit financial transactions and fraudulent sports wagers totaling millions of dollars,” resulting “in potentially millions of dollars’ worth of illicit profits and money-laundering transactions.”

The links from Hennen to game fixing begin with former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter. Porter admitted to taking himself out of games in 2024 so gamblers could win prop bets on his performances. He pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy to commit wire fraud in July 2024 and is awaiting sentencing; the NBA banned him for life. Terry Rozier, a far more prominent NBA player currently with the Miami Heat, is under federal investigation for his performance in a 2023 game while a member of the Charlotte Hornets—his case is tied to Porter’s, three independent sources familiar with the probes tell Sports Illustrated. The NBA said it investigated Rozier and did not find any violations, and the league is cooperating with the Eastern District. Rozier has not been charged with a crime.

The scheme that ensnared Porter was fairly simple: He amassed significant gambling debts, and he repaid them by sabotaging his own performance. Porter’s salary at the time was around $400,000. Sources familiar with elements of the federal and NCAA inquiries tell SI that authorities are investigating potential links between the same gambling ring and wagering on at least nine college games across last season and this season. Investigators have flagged unusual wagering on games involving at least five college teams—and they are prepared for that number to increase.

The Justice Department alleges Hennen had five co-conspirators just for the Porter scheme. Only four have been publicly identified. Three—Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah and Long Phi “Bruce” Pham—pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. A grand jury indicted the fourth, Ammar Awawdeh, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery. The Justice Department has said Hennen will be charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering, but delayed officially charging him while he negotiates a plea. 

After Hennen was arrested at the Vegas airport, the U.S. Attorney’s office wrote that he was trying to flee the country before a “Jan. 15 deadline.” The publicly available letter, which has portions redacted, did not specify a reason for the deadline. According to a filing signed by Hennen and an attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s office, the two sides are negotiating a plea deal. If they reach one, and it includes a promise from Hennen to testify truthfully, we might learn the full scope of the game-fixing ring.

Hennen’s attorney, Todd Leventhal, tells SI, “It’s still early [in the case]. We’re reviewing everything. The government paints a very vivid picture, and I think that picture will have a hard time holding up at trial.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office letter says, “the proof of his guilt is overwhelming,” and includes “witnesses, phone records, financial records and betting records.” The government has not released most of that evidence.

The government says “numerous” Hennen schemes were “fraudulent.”

Through independent reporting, court records and other publicly available information, SI set out to explain how such an audacious—and reckless—scheme could unfold by following Shane Hennen.

Hennen has been in trouble with the law off and on over the last two decades. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct; two misdemeanors related to gambling devices; and a felony facsimile-bombs charge, according to Pennsylvania state records. In November ’09, he was charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment in connection with a stabbing in his hometown of Pittsburgh; he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. Twelve days after that incident, Hennen was arrested in the parking lot of the Meadows Casino in Pittsburgh after police suspected him of selling cocaine in the parking lot of a nearby Wendy’s, according to a criminal complaint. He pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and two other charges: possession with intent to distribute under 500 grams of cocaine, and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute over 5 kilograms of cocaine. He served 30 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.

In 2016, Hennen requested an early termination to his supervised release, citing, among other things, “renal failure (kidney cancer).” He argued he had followed the terms of his release, a claim his probation officer would later refute: Hennen was not allowed to leave Pennsylvania, but “on August 6, 2014, Mr. Hennen traveled via airplane from Gulfport … to San Diego, California. Mr. Hennen did not purchase a return ticket and he was carrying $10,769 in cash.” In ’17, Hennen left Pennsylvania again; this time, police in Kirkwood, Mo., arrested him for DUI. Kirkwood police said Hennen was carrying $14,621 in cash, which he told officers was “the proceeds of his gambling winnings.” (The DUI charge was later dismissed.)

Earning a living as a professional sports gambler is notoriously difficult, and those who succeed are generally reluctant to share their secrets. But Hennen peddles his. Through his website, SugarShaneWins.com, he sells exclusive picks at a steep rate: $99 for his “exclusive play of the day,” $199 for one full day of picks and $999 for a week of picks.

Hennen coaxes money out of wallets with images of his supposedly glamorous life: seats on private planes and luxury boats; his hand on a Ferrari stick shift; stacks and stacks of money. That would be quite a comeback for a man who, just eight years ago, represented himself in a court proceeding.

Justin Epifanio, sportsbook manager at Rivers Casino in Philadelphia, tells SI that Hennen regularly placed large wagers there. “We definitely know Shane,” Epifanio says. “He was our top bettor for quite a while, a few years. The amounts of money he was betting were quite significant.”

Hennen’s publicly available betting slips, many of which are posted on SugarShaneWins.com, total more than $2 million since 2020—and those are just a portion of what he says he gambled. SI could not independently confirm that each betting slip was authentic. But five of the slips he posted, totaling $269,454 in bets on NFL games and $149,000 in bets on college games, include QR codes that linked to confirmation of the bets by the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Hennen posted a number of these large bets on his Instagram account, including a $300,150 wager on a single Duke-Virginia men’s basketball game in March 2023. That was a high-profile game at the peak of the season, but an executive at one Las Vegas casino, who spoke to SI on condition of anonymity, said his sportsbook would not accept a wager that large on a college basketball game. Some of Hennen’s other bets are on far more obscure contests: $100,000 on Loyola Chicago against Tulsa on Nov. 17, 2022; $28,500 on Ball State against Kent State on Feb. 24, 2021; and $60,000 on Toledo against Buffalo five days earlier.

“Games like that are exactly why sportsbooks have limits,” says the Vegas casino source, who added that Hennen had been a customer at his property and his account was disabled after he was arrested in January. “If someone made those bets, we would immediately label that player as one to watch.”

Hennen also posted on Instagram that he wagered $155,700 on two first-half college basketball spreads on March 4, 2023. He bet $70,000 on Iowa State’s first half against Baylor; Iowa State covered that spread by 15 points. He bet another $85,700 on Tennessee’s first-half spread against Auburn. Tennessee led by seven before an Auburn three-pointer at the end of the half cut the Vols’ lead to four—still a cover for Hennen.

That same weekend, Hennen bet on Longwood to cover its 3.5-point first-half spread against Campbell in the quarterfinal round of the low-level Big South Conference tournament. Longwood covered its first-half spread, leading by six at the break before getting outscored by 19 in the second half. Afterward, Hennen took the unusual (for him) step of obscuring the size of the wager when he posted a screenshot of his betting slip.

In February 2024, Hennen recorded a video of himself in a casino sportsbook, presumably for SugarShaneWins.com customers. (He posted it on Instagram a few days later.) Hennen announced he was focused on college basketball: “Trying to get like a seven- or eight-game win streak going right now. On three at the moment … trying to go very, very hard before this March Madness.”

He then encouraged viewers to “sweat this right here.”

He tilted the camera toward his left hand, which held a $75,000 betting slip for Drake to cover a 9.5-point spread against Murray State.

“Try to get this money,” Hennen said. “Let’s go.”

Drake jumped out to a 22-point first-half lead and won by 23. After the game, Hennen posted the betting slip on Instagram—but this time, he posted the dollar amount and blocked out the game he wagered on.

Curious does not necessarily mean criminal. SI did not obtain any information indicating the aforementioned games were rigged. (If Hennen did rig any of those games, the culprit would presumably be a compromised player or players on the team he bet against.)

But the legitimacy of Hennen’s gambling winnings has been in question for a while. Several established poker pros, including Matt Berkey, have publicly suspected Hennen of cheating, possibly by using loaded decks and colluding with others. In 2023, Berkey said on his Only Friends podcast that he played a high-stakes private game with Hennen and, “I left thinking I was cheated … He was crazy action: beats me in a massive pot, very quickly racks up, and has to leave. Never plays again.”

Berkey said Hennen introduced himself as “Colin.” But Colin is actually Hennen’s brother’s name. Berkey, a Pittsburgh-area native like Hennen, said friends from his hometown told him the person he knew as Colin was actually “Sugar Shane.” 

None of the poker allegations has been proven, and Leventhal, Hennen’s attorney, declined to comment to SI about the cheating allegations. 

As for Hennen’s large sports wagers: Epifanio, the Philadelphia sportsbook manager, says, “The integrity behind those bets wasn’t always in question. That became a concern for us somewhere down the line.” Epifanio did not say exactly when those concerns arose, and declined comment on whether Rivers Casino has been contacted by either federal or NCAA investigators regarding Hennen.

In early 2024, gambling watchdog firm Integrity Compliance 360 (then known as U.S. Integrity) started receiving reports from offshore properties about unusual betting on five Temple games: against Memphis on Feb. 8, Charlotte on Feb. 11, Wichita State on Feb. 25, Rice on Feb. 28 and Tulsa on March 2, sources tell SI. But it was a sixth Temple game, against Alabama-Birmingham on March 7, that spurred the firm to issue an alert to be sent to gaming regulators nationwide.

Money poured in on Alabama-Birmingham domestically that skewed the betting lines, both for the first half and the entire game—well outside of normal line movement. At one sportsbook, for example, the line jumped from Alabama-Birmingham being favored by 2.5 points to being favored by 8, before settling as high as 7.5 before tip-off. The Blazers rolled to a 15-point lead at halftime, on their way to a 28-point victory. That game aroused enough scrutiny that it made news immediately, but it followed a pattern that had built up over a month.

This time, Integrity Compliance 360 sent out its alert because, a source says, “the evidence was stronger [that game] than the other games.” 

ESPN reported earlier this month that wagering accounts tied to the gambling ring placed bets on several college games that aroused suspicion, including at least one Temple game. An SI source confirmed the gambling ring is suspected by wagering monitoring services of making bets via proxies on multiple college contests.

In the six games Integrity Compliance 360 scrutinized, Temple trailed at halftime in five, by an average margin of 11.2 points. (The Rice game was the exception.) Sportsbooks routinely offer first-half betting lines for games, which could appeal to point-shavers for obvious reasons: Players can rig a bet in the first half and still go all out to win the game in the second. Temple won two of the games and lost four. A school spokesman did not respond to a request from SI this week for comment.

One player caught up in the Temple probe is Hysier Miller, the team’s leading scorer last season at 15.9 points per game. In that Alabama-Birmingham game, Miller scored eight points on 3-of-9 shooting with three turnovers.

After last season, Miller transferred to Virginia Tech but never played there. He was dismissed from the team in October 2024 for what the university described as “circumstances prior to his enrollment at Virginia Tech.” In November, sources confirmed to SI that Miller’s performances at Temple were part of federal and NCAA probes. He is now playing professionally in Germany. Miller’s attorney, Jason P. Bologna, declined comment for this story.

The NCAA also has formally opened an investigation at Eastern Michigan. In response to a records request from SI, the university turned over a notice of inquiry from the NCAA that was dated Jan. 17. Four days later, the NCAA issued requests for cellphone data from five individuals whose names are redacted. Eastern Michigan had two games flagged by gambling watchdogs this season: against Wright State on Dec. 21 and Central Michigan on Jan. 14, sources say. School officials declined comment to SI.

SI sources say North Carolina A&T also has at least one game under scrutiny from federal investigators and the NCAA. ESPN reported that North Carolina A&T’s Jan. 9 game against Delaware was flagged for unusual wagering on the first-half line; the school’s top two scorers were suspended in late January for what was termed a violation of team rules, but coach Monte Ross told SI at the time that any connection between that discipline and the gambling investigation “is not accurate.” Subsequent requests for comment from A&T officials went unanswered.

ESPN additionally reported that Mississippi Valley State is under scrutiny. MVSU officials did not respond to an SI request for comment.

If gamblers and game fixers were indeed at work at those schools, they preyed upon some of the least-funded teams and athletic programs in NCAA Division I.

It is important to remember that, while we can see a lot of the dots, the government has not yet said how they connect. We know the government says Hennen’s fraud totaled “millions of dollars”—and Hennen has bragged that he wagered millions. We do not know exactly why he set up a public sports-picking business, or how many customers he had. We do know Hennen is accused of laundering his winnings.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says Hennen used “a network of proxies and straw bettors located across the country.” Only four alleged co-conspirators have been named, and they are all from New York or Pennsylvania.

Three sources familiar with elements of the federal investigation say one name has come up as a possible co-conspirator: Marves Fairley of Mississippi. He has not been charged in the scheme. Authorities have not publicly named him as a suspect. But on March 29, 2023—six days after Rozier played briefly in the game that is under investigation—Hennen posted a picture of himself with Fairley in the front row of a Mavericks-76ers game in Philadelphia. In the caption, Hennen called him “my partner.” In state court records, Mississippi has called him “a habitual criminal.”

Like Hennen, Fairley sells his sports-picking expertise online and posts pictures and videos of himself with gambling slips and stacks of cash. He calls himself “Vezino.” He officially formed Vezino Locks LLC in September 2022; two months later, he posted a picture of his face on a $100 bill under the words “In Vezino We Trust,” and in the caption, he wrote: “I wasn’t satisfied until all of US got RICH”. 

On one The Vezino Podcast episode, Fairley cautioned his customers that his success rate was not 100%: “Yes, we have a better percentage than everybody else. But it’s still not a guarantee.”

Fairley apparently has a long history of profiting off gamblers. According to a police report from a 2016 marijuana-dealing arrest (his second; he pleaded guilty to possession after the first arrest), Fairley told an agent “that he liked to gamble and obtained the largest portion of his money assets from his role as a bookie.” Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Agent Matt Spears said Fairley’s brother, Deon Fairley, told him he was unemployed other than gambling.

One agent asked Marves Fairley if he “obtained any of his money gambling at legal gambling establishments, referencing casinos or other legal establishments in other states.”

Fairley said “he did not because the odds would not be in his favor.”

Bookmaking and pot-dealing were not nearly the most serious allegations to find their way to Marves Fairley.

In 2018, a grand jury indicted him for murdering a man in the Witness Protection Program named Damos Daniels.

In 2011, Daniels, an FBI informant, was charged with murdering 29-year-old Kenroderick Jefferson, but the judge took the unusual step of bypassing the jury and issuing a not-guilty verdict. The government moved Daniels into the Witness Protection Program and out of Mississippi. But he returned to the state and allegedly got involved in crime again. One of those alleged crimes: robbing Deon Fairley.

The state said Marves Fairley then enlisted two associates, Antonio Sims and Jaylen Thomas, who called Daniels pretending to set up a drug deal. They met him in a gravel lot by an abandoned oil well.

Daniels was shot and killed there. His wife, Megan, was shot as well. 

Prosecutors brought charges against Marves Fairley, Sims and Thomas, but they seemed to have their sights set on Fairley. On April 11, 2018, they reached a memorandum of understanding with Thomas and Sims: The two would testify against Fairley in exchange for their own charges being reduced to manslaughter.

On Oct. 16, 2019, Fairley was arrested again: this time, for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He went to Lawrence County jail. While he was there,  Stephanie Wells, an officer in the sheriff’s office, entered the jail and left a towel for an inmate, according to court records. Underneath the towel was a cellphone for Fairley. He was charged with possessing contraband in a correctional facility. (Wells pleaded guilty to introduction of contraband into a correctional facility.)

Shortly afterward, prosecutors dropped murder charges against Fairley because he had inappropriate contact with potential jurors or witnesses. They did so “without prejudice,” meaning they could bring charges again—which they did.

Fairley pleaded guilty to the firearm charge and was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison. But he still faced charges for the murder; for dealing marijuana; and for the cellphone incident. 

The minimum prison sentence for the contraband crime alone was three years in prison. The maximum was 15 years. On Oct. 27, 2023, the state said it would seek “enhanced punishment,” citing Fairley’s prior convictions. 

On Oct. 30, 2023, Fairley pleaded guilty to the contraband charge in exchange for the state dropping the murder and marijuana-distribution charges. The state later recommended 10 years in prison, followed by a five-year suspended sentence, followed by five years supervised release.

But the judge said that first, “it’s my understanding … there are some issues that need to be worked out between the defendant and the District Attorney’s office and other agencies.” The judge also mentioned “a number of matters involving the defendant, state and others.”

Fairley was not sentenced until Sept. 16, 2024. The state issued a new recommendation: a 15-year suspended sentence, with zero days actually served.

In the meantime, he had resumed making money on gambling.

Selling picks to gamblers is legal. But on Feb. 22, 2024, Fairley announced on his podcast that he had partnered with a bookmaker: “Just inbox me. You can’t make it to the casino, you’re at home, you’re bored, you want to put a bet in … any state. We’re not like FanDuel, we’re not like DraftKings. Any state, wherever you’re at, just inbox me.” That scheme, if he executed it, would appear to violate state law. Online sports betting is illegal in Mississippi, and while many states have legalized sports gambling, Fairley’s operation would violate the Federal Wire Act of 1961, which prohibits interstate gambling unless it is specifically allowed by state law. Fairley’s lawyer from his most recent criminal cases, Bob Evans, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Fairley was, however, free to bet on sports at the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi, which he apparently did frequently—and, of course, in Las Vegas, which he did as well.

On July 14, 2023, the @Vezino_LocksLLC Instagram account posted a video purportedly showing 35 bundles of cash, several of which are labeled $10,000. Fairley and the Las Vegas Strip were both tagged in the video.

SI informed the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York that we were reporting Fairley’s name has surfaced as a possible co-conspirator; the office declined comment.

In the meantime, Fairley continues to post about big wagers and sell his picks to customers.

Incredibly, so does Hennen. He and Fairley both posted slips from bets they say they made while they were in New Orleans during Super Bowl week.

On Super Bowl Sunday, Hennen crowed he had won a college basketball bet. He had Temple plus-13 against Memphis.

For now, it’s business as usual. But around college basketball—and perhaps beyond—people should heed the words of Vezino.

“Whatever hustle you have, whatever you’re doing … I know scammers, I know hustlers, I know gamblers,” Fairley said during one podcast. “Whatever you’re doing, don’t ever treat it as, ‘This is gonna last,’ because that’s not true. It’s an ending to everything. Everything has an expiration date.”

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