Federal prosecutors charged 26 people in an alleged point-shaving scheme involving dozens of college basketball players, authorities announced Thursday.

U.S. Attorney David Metcalf said players on 17 different NCAA Division I men's basketball teams "fixed and attempted to fix" 29 games.

The allegations cover a period between September 2022 and February 2025. The indictment also includes allegations of influencing or fixing Chinese Basketball Association men's basketball games.

According to the indictment, players were allegedly bribed to tank games to enrich sports gamblers.

Some of the people allegedly involved in the scheme were former college players who are accused of bribing current college players to shave points on games so bettors could capitalize. 

Metcalf said the bribes could range between $10,000 and $30,000 per game.

"For example, if a team was favored to lose by 4 points, the player would receive a bribe to underperform so that his team would lose more than that," Metcalf said at a news conference announcing the charges in Philadelphia.

Games involving the following teams were allegedly rigged or impacted, investigators say: Alabama State, Western Michigan University, Butler, St. John's, Tulane, East Carolina, McNeese State, Nicholls State, St. Louis University, Duquesne, La Salle, Fordham, SUNY Buffalo, Kent State, Ohio University, Georgetown and DePaul.

NCAA President Charlie Baker responded to the newly revealed allegations by saying that the organization has finished or opened investigations into almost all of the teams named.

"The pattern of college basketball game integrity conduct revealed by law enforcement today is not entirely new information to the NCAA," Baker said in a statement.

The announcement comes less than three months after NBA mainstays Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were among dozens of people arrested in a sweeping FBI crackdown on alleged illegal gambling rings.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.