Jackson Jambalaya

 Some Mississippi Valley State University men's basketball games might, might, be implicated in a gambling investigation.  ESPN reported: 

A gambling ring currently under federal investigation for its role in two NBA betting cases also was involved in unusual wagering activity on at least three men's college basketball programs this season, sources told ESPN on Monday.

Sportsbook accounts connected to the gambling ring bet against North Carolina A&T, Mississippi Valley State and Eastern Michigan in games this season, sources said.

Some of the same accounts also placed large wagers on prop bets involving former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter in two games during the 2023-24 NBA season and veteran guard Terry Rozier in 2023, when he was with the Charlotte Hornets, sources said. Porter has admitted to manipulating his performance during the games for gambling purposes; Rozier has declined to comment on a reported investigation into unusual betting on his performance in a select game.

The sportsbook accounts linked to the gambling ring also wagered on a Temple game flagged for suspicious betting last March. Sources familiar with the ongoing investigations said the ring targeted additional college basketball programs over the past two seasons.

Officials at North Carolina A&T and Mississippi Valley State did not respond to requests for comment regarding the betting case. North Carolina A&T athletic director Earl Hilton did tell ESPN in an email that the recent suspension of three basketball players was for a violation "of well-established team rules" but declined further comment, citing privacy laws..... Rest of article.

There may be a separate Mississippi connection to the gambling investigation.  Sports Illustrated reported February 25: 

Three sources familiar with elements of the federal investigation say one name has come up as a possible co-conspirator: Marves Fairley of Mississippi. He has not been charged in the scheme. Authorities have not publicly named him as a suspect. But on March 29, 2023—six days after Rozier played briefly in the game that is under investigation—Hennen posted a picture of himself with Fairley in the front row of a Mavericks-76ers game in Philadelphia. In the caption, Hennen called him “my partner.” In state court records, Mississippi has called him “a habitual criminal.”

Like Hennen, Fairley sells his sports-picking expertise online and posts pictures and videos of himself with gambling slips and stacks of cash. He calls himself “Vezino.” He officially formed Vezino Locks LLC in September 2022; two months later, he posted a picture of his face on a $100 bill under the words “In Vezino We Trust,” and in the caption, he wrote: “I wasn’t satisfied until all of US got RICH”.

On one The Vezino Podcast episode, Fairley cautioned his customers that his success rate was not 100%: “Yes, we have a better percentage than everybody else. But it’s still not a guarantee.”

Fairley apparently has a long history of profiting off gamblers. According to a police report from a 2016 marijuana-dealing arrest (his second; he pleaded guilty to possession after the first arrest), Fairley told an agent “that he liked to gamble and obtained the largest portion of his money assets from his role as a bookie.” Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Agent Matt Spears said Fairley’s brother, Deon Fairley, told him he was unemployed other than gambling.

One agent asked Marves Fairley if he “obtained any of his money gambling at legal gambling establishments, referencing casinos or other legal establishments in other states.”

Fairley said “he did not because the odds would not be in his favor.”

Fairley has quite an interesting criminal record.   

Bookmaking and pot-dealing were not nearly the most serious allegations to find their way to Marves Fairley. In 2018, a grand jury indicted him for murdering a man in the Witness Protection Program named Damos Daniels.

In 2011, Daniels, an FBI informant, was charged with murdering 29-year-old Kenroderick Jefferson, but the judge took the unusual step of bypassing the jury and issuing a not-guilty verdict. The government moved Daniels into the Witness Protection Program and out of Mississippi. But he returned to the state and allegedly got involved in crime again. One of those alleged crimes: robbing Deon Fairley.

The state said Marves Fairley then enlisted two associates, Antonio Sims and Jaylen Thomas, who called Daniels pretending to set up a drug deal. They met him in a gravel lot by an abandoned oil well.

Daniels was shot and killed there. His wife, Megan, was shot as well.

Prosecutors brought charges against Marves Fairley, Sims and Thomas, but they seemed to have their sights set on Fairley. On April 11, 2018, they reached a memorandum of understanding with Thomas and Sims: The two would testify against Fairley in exchange for their own charges being reduced to manslaughter.

On Oct. 16, 2019, Fairley was arrested again: this time, for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He went to Lawrence County jail. While he was there, Stephanie Wells, an officer in the sheriff’s office, entered the jail and left a towel for an inmate, according to court records. Underneath the towel was a cellphone for Fairley. He was charged with possessing contraband in a correctional facility. (Wells pleaded guilty to introduction of contraband into a correctional facility.)

Shortly afterward, prosecutors dropped murder charges against Fairley because he had inappropriate contact with potential jurors or witnesses. They did so “without prejudice,” meaning they could bring charges again—which they did.

Fairley pleaded guilty to the firearm charge and was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison. But he still faced charges for the murder; for dealing marijuana; and for the cellphone incident. The minimum prison sentence for the contraband crime alone was three years in prison. The maximum was 15 years. On Oct. 27, 2023, the state said it would seek “enhanced punishment,” citing Fairley’s prior convictions.

On Oct. 30, 2023, Fairley pleaded guilty to the contraband charge in exchange for the state dropping the murder and marijuana-distribution charges. The state later recommended 10 years in prison, followed by a five-year suspended sentence, followed by five years supervised release.

But the judge said that first, “it’s my understanding ... there are some issues that need to be worked out between the defendant and the District Attorney’s office and other agencies.” The judge also mentioned “a number of matters involving the defendant, state and others.”

Fairley was not sentenced until Sept. 16, 2024. The state issued a new recommendation: a 15-year suspended sentence, with zero days actually served.

In the meantime, he had resumed making money on gambling.

Selling picks to gamblers is legal. But on Feb. 22, 2024, Fairley announced on his podcast that he had partnered with a bookmaker: “Just inbox me. You can’t make it to the casino, you’re at home, you’re bored, you want to put a bet in … any state. We’re not like FanDuel, we’re not like DraftKings. Any state, wherever you’re at, just inbox me.” That scheme, if he executed it, would appear to violate state law. Online sports betting is illegal in Mississippi, and while many states have legalized sports gambling, Fairley’s operation would violate the Federal Wire Act of 1961, which prohibits interstate gambling unless it is specifically allowed by state law. Fairley’s lawyer from his most recent criminal cases, Bob Evans, did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Fairley was, however, free to bet on sports at the Beau Rivage casino in Biloxi, which he apparently did frequently—and, of course, in Las Vegas, which he did as well.

On July 14, 2023, the @Vezino_LocksLLC Instagram account posted a video purportedly showing 35 bundles of cash, several of which are labeled $10,000. Fairley and the Las Vegas Strip were both tagged in the video. SI informed the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York that we were reporting Fairley’s name has surfaced as a possible co-conspirator; the office declined comment. Rest of article

What will the feds develop in their investigation?  Stay tuned.