Guilty Plea in NCAA Betting Scandal and Obstruction Charges
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 So our first story here is a dial back to last year
00:08 where a man was betting on,
00:11 or attempted to make bets on a college baseball game,
00:14 just some random guy in Cincinnati, Ohio,
00:17 who shows up to bet because he thinks he has an edge
00:19 after hearing from one of the coaches
00:21 in a college basketball game,
00:23 or college baseball game, excuse me,
00:25 regarding the University of Alabama.
00:27 Now, my understanding with the story
00:30 is that the guilty plea for these charges
00:35 is just simply obstruction in the NCAA betting scheme.
00:39 So what about actually though,
00:41 like attempting to make the bets and all that,
00:43 is that not part of this?
00:44 It's just he's being charged
00:46 with obstruction of justice, essentially?
00:48 - Yeah, I mean, Craig, this kind of just all stems back
00:51 to the fact that he ended up getting caught
00:53 because it was on video at the BetMGM Sportsbook
00:55 at Great American Ballpark.
00:56 He attempted to place a $100,000 wager,
00:59 was really foolish about the way he went about it.
01:01 He told the ticket taker,
01:03 "Hey, if you only knew what I knew,
01:04 you'd be making this bet too."
01:06 And so they ended up limiting him to $15,000.
01:09 And why he's charged and faces up to 10 years in prison
01:12 is because he destroyed his cell phone, I believe.
01:14 He told people to delete their Signal app,
01:16 'cause that's how he and Brad Bohannon,
01:17 the Alabama coach that was fired amid this probe
01:22 into this sports betting allegation,
01:24 had used Signal and they were able to catch him on video,
01:27 which is incredible 'cause it's an encrypted messaging app.
01:31 But he was so blatant, Bert Neff was, about this,
01:33 that he's facing up to 10 years in prison,
01:35 up to a $250,000 fine.
01:37 Bohannon got, I believe, a five-year NCAA baseball ban
01:41 as part of a 15-year show cause order.
01:43 He was ordered to pay a fine,
01:44 go through three years probation.
01:46 So nothing good happened here, right?
01:48 They tried to get an edge.
01:49 The coach said, "Hammer this bet.
01:51 Starting pitcher's gonna be out.
01:52 Let me know when I can tell LSU."
01:54 On this Alabama-LSU baseball game,
01:57 it blew up in everybody's face.
01:58 And hopefully, if you're in sports,
02:00 you're watching what's going on here.
02:03 This is something you cannot do, right?
02:04 You can't give inside information as a coach to a bettor.
02:07 And as a bettor, if you're gonna bet 100 grand,
02:09 you probably shouldn't be at a baseball stadium
02:12 with tons of cameras on,
02:13 telling everybody what kind of information you have
02:15 and how stupid they are.
02:16 They aren't making the same bet as you.
02:17 I mean, this was just the most poorly planned attempt
02:20 at nefarious activity perhaps ever.
02:22 I mean, definitely in sports betting,
02:24 I mean, my goodness, how blatant can you be?
02:26 And the punishment seems to fit the crime here,
02:29 and he's pleading guilty, so he definitely did it.
02:31 And it was on camera, for God's sakes.
02:33 So yeah, these guys showing everyone what not to do.
02:37 (upbeat music)
02:40 (bells chiming)