Eric Earnest to plead guilty in Brooklyn sports betting case before NBA season start

Eric Earnest, the lead defendant in the Brooklyn federal sports betting case, is expected to plead guilty later this month, just two days after the start of the NBA regular season. For PSPs and sportsbooks, the case is a reminder that insider-driven betting schemes can turn into wire fraud and money laundering charges fast.

1. The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said on Tuesday that Earnest intends to plead guilty in a case that has drawn in Mafia figures, professional athletes and illegal poker operators over the past 12 months. The hearing has been referred to US Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo, who has already handled several change-of-plea hearings in the broader case.
2. Earnest, 54, nicknamed “Spook” in court filings, is accused of helping a group of conspirators defraud several commercial sportsbooks. Prosecutors say multiple NBA players manipulated props tied to their statistical performance, and that four unnamed sportsbook operators were allegedly defrauded in the scheme.
3. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. In a letter to Marutollo, US Attorney Joseph Nocella wrote that “the defendant knowingly and willfully participated in the scheme or artifice to defraud, with knowledge of its fraudulent nature and with specific intent to defraud.”
4. According to prosecutors, the scheme ran for 16 months through March 2024 and relied on material non-public information from inside the locker room, including undisclosed player injuries and team tanking strategies, to feed a betting syndicate. Prosecutors filed the sports betting case as US v. Earnest last fall.
5. The same day Brooklyn prosecutors charged Earnest last October, they also brought charges in a parallel illegal poker case. Earnest, Shane Hennen and Jones are the only defendants charged in both matters, and prosecutors said on Tuesday that Earnest is also set to plead guilty in the poker case, US v. Aiello.

A handful of former NBA players, including Terry Rozier, Jontay Porter and Damon Jones, have also been indicted in the case tied to manipulation of outcomes on various wagers. One presumed ringleader, Marves Fairley, is also facing charges in a nationwide college basketball point-shaving scheme.