Sports
Guardians pitchers indicted in gambling scheme involving MLB games
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Federal officials indicted two Major League Baseball pitchers on charges related to an alleged gambling scheme concocted to rig bets on games during the season.
Cleveland Guardians pitchers Luis Ortiz and All-Star pitcher Emmanuel Clase were the targets of the investigation and the two face charges in the alleged scheme. Ortiz was reportedly arrested in Boston earlier Sunday, while Clase has yet to be taken into custody.
The pitchers face charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering. Both pitchers are from the Dominican Republic.
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Emmanuel Clase, left, and Luis Ortiz, were indicted in a federal gambling probe on Nov. 9, 2025. (IMAGN)
“We are aware of the recent law enforcement action. We will continue to fully cooperate with both law enforcement and Major League Baseball as their investigations continue,” the team said.
MLB placed Ortiz and Clase on non-disciplinary paid leave due to a gambling probe on July 3. When Fox News Digital reached out for an update on the investigation on Oct. 22, MLB directed Fox News Digital to an August statement.
“MLB contacted federal law enforcement at the outset of its investigation and has fully cooperated throughout the process. We are aware of the indictment and today’s arrest, and our investigation is ongoing,” MLB’s statement on Sunday read.
Clase and Ortiz “conspired with bettors to rig pitches in professional baseball games so that the bettors would profit from illegal wagers made based on that inside information,” the indictment read. “The defendants agreed in advance with their co-conspirators to throw specific types and speeds of pitchers, and their co-conspirators used that inside information to place wagers on those pitches.
“In some instances, the defendants received bribes and kickback payments – funneled through third parties – in exchange for rigging pitches. Through this scheme, the defendants defrauded betting platforms, deprived Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Guardians of their honest services, illegally enriched themselves and their co-conspirators, misled the public and betrayed America’s past time.”

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Emmanuel Clase during a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, in San Francisco, June 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)
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Officials said in the indictment that from May 2023 to June 2025 Clase agreed with one co-conspirator to “throw specific pitches in certain MLB games” so that the bettors they were allegedly partnered with “would profit from illegal wagers made based on that inside information.” Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme in June 2025.
The indictment said Clase conferred with one bettor throw a ball on the first pitch of an at-bat when he was brought into games in relief. The indictment pointed to instances in the following games, including May 19, 2023, vs. the New York Mets, June 2, 2023, vs. the Minnesota Twins and June 7, 2023, vs. the Boston Red Sox.
Clase allegedly began to request and receive bribes and kickback payments for agreeing to throw the specific pitches in April, according to the indictment. In one instance, the indictment said Clase used his phone in the middle of a game to coordinate with a bettor on a pitch he would throw.

Cleveland Guardians’ Luis Ortiz pitches in the first inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, in Cleveland, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Bettors allegedly won $400,000 from betting platforms on pitchers thrown by Clase between 2023 and 2025.
When Ortiz allegedly joined the scheme, the indictment said he agreed to throw balls over strikes on certain pitches in exchange for bribes or kickbacks. He allegedly agreed to throw a ball on June 15 against the Seattle Mariners for around $5,000 in his first pitch in the second inning.
The indictment said Ortiz agreed to throw a ball in his first pitch of the third inning on June 27 against the St. Louis Cardinals for $7,000.
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In June 2025, bettors won at least $60,000 on pitches thrown by Ortiz.
The indictment announcement came weeks after three NBA figures were swept up in an FBI operation involving illegal gambling. Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among the more than two dozen arrested in the scheme.
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Sports
NCAA: Six hoops players banned for betting plots
Six former men’s college basketball players at three schools — New Orleans, Mississippi Valley State and Arizona State — participated in gambling schemes that included game manipulation or sharing information with known bettors, the NCAA announced Friday.
Dae Dae Hunter, Dyquavian Short and Jamond Vincent, who played for New Orleans last season, manipulated their performance for betting purposes in seven games, according to the NCAA findings. In all seven games, Hunter, Short and Vincent allegedly lost or attempted to lose by more points than the spread at sportsbooks as part of a conspiracy with outside bettors, the NCAA said.
Two players at Mississippi Valley State, Donovan Sanders and Alvin Stredic, were offered money to throw a Jan. 6, 2025, game against Alabama A&M, according to the NCAA. Sanders also was overheard discussing “throwing the game” ahead of a Dec. 21, 2024, contest against Tulsa, the NCAA found.
Former Arizona State forward B.J. Freeman was found to have shared information with a former teammate who was betting on Freeman’s performance at a daily fantasy site.
Vincent and Stredic denied participating in any gambling schemes when reached by ESPN on Friday. Attempts to reach Short, Hunter, Sanders and Freeman were unsuccessful.
The NCAA permanently revoked eligibility for all six players. None of them is enrolled at his previous school.
In the New Orleans case, the NCAA found that Hunter, Short and Vincent were overheard discussing the alleged scheme before and during a Dec. 28, 2024, game against McNeese State. An unidentified athlete told the NCAA that during a timeout near the end of the contest, Short instructed the player not to score any more points, according to the findings. New Orleans was around a 23-point underdog and lost by 25.
A second unidentified athlete told the NCAA that Short told him a bettor had contacted him on social media about throwing the McNeese State matchup, according to the report. The athlete said that after the game, Short and Hunter met someone about 45 minutes outside New Orleans to pick up cash, according to the NCAA.
Vincent’s texts included screenshots from FanDuel and DraftKings with specific amounts to wager on the McNeese State game, according to the NCAA.
The NCAA also found text messages on Short’s phone in which he and Hunter discussed receiving $5,000 and spoke with a known bettor on Jan. 20, 2025, the day of a game against Northwestern State.
In total, the NCAA found the athletes participated in the scheme against McNeese State, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Southeastern Louisiana, East Texas A&M, Northwestern State and Incarnate Word. New Orleans lost and failed to cover the spread in six of the seven games. The Privateers beat East Texas A&M 82-73 on Jan. 18.
New Orleans suspended Short, Hunter and Vincent in late January.
At Mississippi Valley State, an unidentified men’s basketball player said he overheard teammate Sanders talking on the phone about “throwing the game” against Tulsa, according to the NCAA report. Sanders then asked the player to join the call with the bettor, who wanted to know if other players would participate in the alleged scheme. Sanders later instructed the player to delete their texts, according to the NCAA.
Sportsbooks flagged Mississippi Valley State’s game against Tulsa after a series of large bets came in on the Golden Hurricane to cover the 26-point spread, according to documents obtained by ESPN in an open records request. Mississippi Valley State lost by 45.
The NCAA found that Sanders and Stredic provided information to bettors on a second game, against Alabama A&M on Jan. 6. Sanders told NCAA investigators he and Stredic were offered money to throw that game by another bettor, who told them to play poorly in the first half.
Stredic denied the NCAA’s allegation that he knowingly provided information to individuals that Mississippi Valley State would lose by more points than the spread against Alabama A&M.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Stredic told ESPN on Friday. “I gave the NCAA my phone, and that was it, and then I finished the season.”
Stredic added that he spoke with an FBI agent in recent weeks to discuss the matter.
In its report, the NCAA said the betting handle for the Mississippi Valley State-Alabama A&M game was 3.6 times higher than the average amount wagered on SWAC games.
In all, the NCAA found that Sanders provided inside information to bettors in two games while Stredic did for one.
The NCAA found that former Arizona State guard Freeman gave former Fresno State player Mykell Robinson information before at least four games so that Robinson could bet on his statistics, according to its report. Freeman also gave information to his then-girlfriend before two games so she could wager on his stats.
Robinson and Freeman were teammates at Dodge City Community College in Kansas in 2021-22.
Robinson was one of three athletes the NCAA banned at Fresno State and San Jose State. The NCAA announced in September that Robinson had manipulated his performance for gambling purposes and conspired with two players to bet on his statistics.
ESPN previously reported that an NBA gambling ring placed suspicious bets on men’s college basketball games, including ones involving Mississippi Valley State. Some of the same accounts also placed large wagers on prop bets involving former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
Rozier was charged last month in a federal indictment with manipulating his performance and providing inside information to bettors. Through an attorney, Rozier has denied the allegations.
Porter admitted to manipulating his performance in an NBA game for the benefit of gamblers. He pleaded guilty to federal charges last year and is awaiting sentencing.
The NCAA said in October that it had opened investigations into potential betting violations by approximately 30 current or former men’s basketball players.
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Ex-All-Star Oladipo joins Bucks’ G League team
MILWAUKEE — Two-time NBA All-Star Victor Oladipo is joining the Wisconsin Herd, the Milwaukee Bucks’ G League affiliate.
The Herd announced on Sunday that they have acquired Oladipo, who hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2022-23 season, from the Santa Cruz Warriors. Oladipo tore his left patellar tendon while playing for the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2023 playoffs against the Bucks, and he joined the G League player pool over the weekend.
The Santa Cruz Warriors, who had waiver priority over Wisconsin, claimed Oladipo then traded his rights to the Bucks for a 2027 first-round pick in the G League draft.
Although he hasn’t played in the NBA since the injury, Oladipo did appear in some NBA preseason games last month while playing for the Chinese Basketball Association’s Guangzhou Loong-Lions.
In his 10-year NBA career, Oladipo, 33, averaged 16.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists on 44% shooting and was named an All-Star in consecutive years, 2018 and 2019.
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