Former Robert Morris Player Indicted in College Basketball Point-Shaving Scandal

In a federal indictment that was unsealed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Thursday, charges against 20 people, including 17 former and active NCAA athletes, were filed as a result of 29 games being affected due to the point-shaving scheme during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 college basketball seasons.

Former Robert Morris forward Markeese Hastings was named as one of the 20 defendants accused of fixing games in exchange for monetary bribes.

The wagers placed across the 29 fixed college basketball games totaled “millions of dollars,” according to the 70-page indictment.

Hastings played just one season at Robert Morris after spending two seasons at Western Michigan and two seasons at Butler. In his lone season as a member of the Colonials, Hastings averaged 14.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in 31 starts. He earned Third-Team All-Horizon honors following the 2023-24 season.

Hastings, along with two other unnamed players that are both known to the jury, were recruited by two other defendants, Jalen Smith and Alberto Laureano, to purposely underperform in select games that Robert Morris played in near the end of the 2023-24 season.

“RMU has been made aware of an investigation and charges involving former members of our men’s basketball program for actions that may have occurred during their enrollment at RMU. We are not aware of any allegations of wrongdoing by the University,” the school said in a statement to Robert Morris Sports Now on Thursday. “RMU has been and will continue to cooperate fully with all relevant authorities. As this is an ongoing matter involving the NCAA and federal law enforcement, we will not offer further comment at this time.”

The games in question was the team’s regular-season loss to Northern Kentucky and a Horizon League Tournament loss to Purdue Fort Wayne.

In the Feb. 28 loss to Northern Kentucky, bets were placed that totaled $256,000 in total, that the Norse would cover an approximate -1.5 first-half point spread. Due to the influence of Hastings and the two other players that were not named, the Norse led the Colonials 42-23 at halftime which won the fixers their bets.

According to the indictment, Hastings communicated with other defendants following the game to set up a meet-up spot, which turned out to be a location near a hotel in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the bribe exchange.

In the days following, Hastings reportedly made contact with Smith again via text message and expressed his willingness to continue participating in the scheme, in which Smith replied “say less.”

In the Horizon League Tournament game that was played against Purdue Fort Wayne on March 5, the fixers bet approximately $50,000 that the Mastodons would also cover an approximate -7 first-half point spread. That bet was also successful as the Colonials trailed 18 points at the half.

Again, Hastings communicated with Smith following the game to set up an exchange spot for the bribes, which later was discovered to be at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.

Robert Morris was one of a long list of college basketball programs listed in the indictment. The list included Alabama State, Abilene Christian, Buffalo, Coppin State, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Fordham, Kennesaw State, La Salle, New Orleans, Nicholls State, North Carolina A&T, Northwestern State, Saint Louis, Southern Miss, and Tulane.