Three former basketball players from DePaul, including Jalen Terry, Dashawn Nelson, and Micawber Etienne, are part of a broader investigation involving 39 individuals from at least 17 NCAA Division I programs scrutinized by the FBI regarding point shaving allegations.
According to recent court documents from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, these players allegedly made deliberate errors during a February 2024 game against Georgetown, reportedly in exchange for bribes. Earlier this week, clips surfaced on social media, showing some questionable plays by Terry and Nelson that led to turnovers.
For instance, just a little over a minute into the game, Terry received a pass from Nelson but, rather bizarrely, threw it directly to a Georgetown player. He then quickly dashed in the opposite direction, which was, well, odd. A few minutes later, Terry attempted a one-handed pass, but it was so poorly aimed that Nelson couldn’t even reach it.
Around ten minutes before halftime, Terry tried to pass over an opponent but, unfortunately, ended up giving the ball to Georgetown instead. At that point, Georgetown was favored by 2.5 points for the spread and led 41-28 at halftime, eventually winning 77-76.
The indictment claims that the trio accepted bribes totaling $40,000 to manipulate the game. Court documents further reveal that they communicated with “fixers,” allegedly using FaceTime to recruit others into this scheme. They purportedly agreed to underperform in future DePaul games in exchange for bribes, particularly during the Georgetown matchup.
Specifically, the indictment details a communication from late February 2024, where Terry, Nelson, Etienne, and another individual discussed rigging future games for payouts. They explicitly agreed to skew their performance to ensure DePaul wouldn’t cover the point spread in the first half of the game against Georgetown.
Interestingly, Terry and Nelson both finished that game with 16 points each, which is curious since it’s almost double their usual scoring averages of 8.5 and 9.7 points. Etienne didn’t score at all.
The indictment notes that out of 29 college basketball games analyzed over two seasons, two games, against Butler and St. John’s, showed signs of similar issues, as the players seemed to struggle after receiving payments related to those performances.
These three former DePaul players are now among 26 defendants facing charges for bribery in sports, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and related offenses.
