Former guard Shawn Fulcher, former forward Isaiah Adams, and an unnamed third former teammate, were recently indicted by the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Federal District Court. They have been charged with bribery in sporting contests, with Fulcher also being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, due to their alleged efforts to underperform in three in-conference games in 2024, with the promise of five-figure payouts each game.
The indictment states that: “In or about late February 2024, the fixers… recruited multiple players on the… Buffalo Bulls Men’s Basketball Team… Those players included defendants Shawn Fulcher, Isaiah Adams… and Person #5.”
The fixers placed large first‑half point‑spread bets on Buffalo to fail to cover, then hand-delivered the UB players in cash after they intentionally underperformed.
This “fixing” occurred in three games, the first against Western Michigan, where they were successful in their efforts to fail to cover the first-half spread. The second game was against Kent State, where the three players underperformed but not to a high enough of a degree — missing the mark by .5 of a point — to fail to cover the first-half spread, ultimately losing the organizers $424,000 in wagers. Despite the Kent State failure, Fulcher, Adams, and the third unnamed player executed the fix again through underperformance, after being bribed approximately $54,000.
It is important to note that these were not just small adjustments to their play; during the Kent State game the three players scored a combined one point in the final 13 minutes of the first half.
According to the indictment, most of the coordination of this scheme was executed over Facetime and text; the majority of payments were made in cash that was delivered to the players in Buffalo. The indictment also notes that Fulcher continued to “point-shave” after he transferred to the University of Alabama in the following season.
Fulcher was indicted separately from the larger group in December, whereas Adams and the unnamed player were listed on the indictment that was filed on January 14th.
Ciah Courtney is the senior sports editor and can be reached at ciah.courtney@ubspectrum.com
