A man with ties to Philadelphia and western Pennsylvania pleaded guilty to two separate indictments on an illegal sports betting scheme and rigged poker games involving former NBA, NCAA and Chinese basketball players and coaches, according to the Department of Justice. 

Shane Hennen, also known as “Sugar,” who previously lived in Philadelphia and western Pennsylvania and is linked to several sports-betting schemes.

Starting around Sept. 2022, Hennen was part of a scheme where he and others recruited players of the Chinese Basketball Association by bribing them to participate in “point-shaving” during the 2022-2023 season. 

Officials said that Hennen part in the scheme was to place bets and then arrange for other people to also place large bets on these fixed games. After finding success with this scheme, Hennen and others started this same process on National Collegiate Athletic Association games. 

Again, those involved in the scheme would recruit NCAA players with bribes to help them influence the outcomes of the games during the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 seasons. Officials explained that this bribery and point-shaving scheme included over 39 players who were part of more than 17 NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams where they fixed at least 29 games. 

The fraudsters gained over $3 million in “fraudulent” bets that were placed onto these games as sports books lost more than $1.1 million.

Shane Hennen was among six defendants who were charged in connection to two separate illegal gambling-related cases. The first indictment charged six men with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy for allegedly using inside information from NBA players and coaches to profit from illegal betting.