Marves Fairley pleaded guilty to a range of charges after being indicted in two major betting scandals. Fairley admitted to paying both NBA and NCAA players to underperform for betting purposes.
“I agreed to pay a player to change their game performance to give me an advantage on bets I placed for myself and others,” Fairley admitted in court on Thursday.
He pleaded guilty to a total of seven counts across the two indictments, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and bribery in sporting contests.
Prosecutors recommended that Fairley serve eight to 10 years in prison, saying he was a leader in the schemes and citing the profits he generated.
He is alleged to have wagered millions of dollars on NBA and NCAA matches where he bribed players to underperform and obtained insider information about team lineups.
Tipping Service Continues To Post Picks
Fairley previously dismissed allegations that he was involved in the scandal as “media lies”.
His Instagram account, Vezino Locks, continues to feature a pinned video of his response to a Sports Illustrated article published in February last year.
The article said Fairley and his partner Shane Hennen had orchestrated “one of the most pervasive point-shaving scandals in North American sports history.” Hennen has been named in both the indictments alongside Fairley.
In the Instagram video, Fairley states, “I think it’s just the media. It’s just somebody that’s writing articles and details about me that don’t know me personally. I think it comes with success. I think the more you level up in life, the more angles they come to bring you down.”
Prosecutors naming Fairley in the NBA indictment alongside players, coaches, and organized crime figures did not slow down his betting tips service. He has continued to post picks at $60 a day.
Even as he pleaded guilty in court on Thursday, his Instagram account boasted of having a ‘lock’ for Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals.
Other posts show him boasting of a lavish lifestyle funded by gambling wins.
Terry Rozier Facing More Charges After Fairley Plea
While Fairley did not explicitly name the NBA player he paid to underperform, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Berman identified him as Terry Rozier.
Hours after Fairley’s court appearance, prosecutors filed a new indictment against Rozier, adding charges of bribery in sporting contests and honest services wire fraud conspiracy.
Rozier continues to protest his innocence in the scheme. His lawyer Jim Trusty stated, “There are some desperate men in this case with terrible criminal records and tons of exposure, and they know what to say to please these prosecutors.”
Fairley Also Faced Murder Charges
Fairley has a long criminal record. When arrested on drug charges in 2016, he told an agent “that he liked to gamble and obtained the largest portion of his money assets from his role as a bookie.”
In 2018, a grand jury indicted him for murdering a man in the Witness Protection Program named Damos Daniels. The killing was allegedly revenge for Daniels robbing Fairley’s brother.
He somehow managed to escape the murder charges following a complicated chain of events. He was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. While in jail, an officer secretly left him a cellphone. He then faced charges of possessing contraband in a correctional facility.
In 2023, he pleaded guilty to the contraband charge in exchange for the state dropping the murder and drug charges. A year later, he was given a 15-year suspended sentence.
During this time, he was bribing college and professional basketball players while placing high-stakes wagers on their matches.
Despite the long list of charges against him and a history of a wide range of criminal activity, he has been released on a $200,000 bond. The money was secured by his wife, his church pastor, and the superintendent of schools in Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi, where he lives.
