thanks for all of this info. dan..
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Gambling suspect attended '04 UT game as guest
Gambling suspect attended '04 UT game as guest
Manni watched McDougle play in MAC championship
By MEGHAN GILBERT
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The man who allegedly ran a point-shaving scheme involving the University of Toledo attended the Rockets' 2004 conference championship game through a ticket provided to him by a UT player.
According to records of the Rockets' pass list for that game, which shows who was admitted into the stadium as a player's guest, Ghazi "Gary" Manni of Sterling Heights, Mich., was on hand for UT's 35-27 victory over Miami University in the 2004 Mid-American Conference Championship game, played at Detroit's Ford Field.
Mr. McDougle, a UT running back, played in that game.
Mr. Manni's name appears on that pass list, and next to it is an illegible signature. On the lists, either a check mark or a signature next to the name indicates the person attended the game.
Mr. Manni was also on UT's pass list for a game against Central Michigan in 2006, but there was no check mark indicating that he attended the game.
Those two games are the only ones for which Mr. Manni's name appeared on the pass list.
A federal complaint filed March 29 in U.S. District Court in Detroit alleges that Mr. Manni had UT running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle, Jr., recruit football and basketball players to fix point margins of games for gambling purposes. Charges against Mr. McDougle were dropped in April, but the investigation is ongoing.
In compliance with the federal education privacy law, the names of all students are redacted from the ticket sheets, making it impossible to tell which player offered Mr. Manni a ticket. But whoever it was apparently offered Mr. Manni's family members tickets as well.
The names Gerri Manni; Gerri Manni, Sr., Jason Manni, and Jacob Manni also appear as guests along with Gary Manni for the 2004 MAC Championship game.
Gerri Manni, Gerri Manni, Jr., and Jason Manni also appear on the list of players' guests for the 2004 Motor City Bowl, but Gary Manni's name is not on that list.Comment -
JJGold orchestrated this scheme. i have proof
he blew his cut on hookers and got sent to a facilityComment -
Hmmmmm..I wonder how I came out on those games. A lotta work, but I could go back and check.Comment -
Ex-UT star Triplett says gambler well-known... Manni met players at birthday party
By JOE VARDON
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The Detroit-area gambler at the center of the alleged point-shaving scandal at the University of Toledo was well known by many UT athletes, according to former Rockets basketball star Keith Triplett.
And Harvey “Scooter” McDougle, Jr., the former UT football player who was once accused in the case, received support this week from both Mr. Triplett and the gambler himself.
Mr. Triplett, a Bowsher High School graduate who last played for the Rockets in the 2004-05 season and finished his career as the program’s third all-time leading scorer, told The Blade this week “everybody know[s]” Ghazi “Gary” Manni, the man who the FBI alleged conspired with Mr. McDougle in a scheme to fix the outcomes of UT football and basketball games. The charges against Mr. McDougle were later dropped.
Mr. Triplett said neither Mr. Manni nor Mr. McDougle ever approached him to shave points, and said Mr. McDougle wasn’t guilty of shaving points either.
“[Mr. Manni] is a normal person like anybody else; he’s no one special,” Mr. Triplett said.
Mr. Triplett, who records show is a refuse collector for the city of Toledo, said he met Mr. Manni about three years ago through a local friend who “didn’t even play sports.” He said he and Mr. Manni talked about “street [stuff]” and not about sports.
Mr. Manni, of Sterling Heights, Mich., has acknowledged that he is the man referred to as “Gary” in a criminal complaint filed March 29.
The FBI alleged that Mr. McDougle bet on a UT football game, engaged in point-shaving, and recruited other university football and men’s basketball players to fix the outcomes of games. In exchange, the complaint alleged, the players received cash, cars, and were entertained by Mr. Manni at a Detroit casino.
Charges against Mr. McDougle were dropped on April 18, but the FBI says the investigation is still ongoing. Mr. McDougle acknowledged his friendship with Mr. Manni to The Blade earlier this week, but said he wasn’t guilty of the charges brought against him.
“This whole [investigation] was more against [Mr. Manni] than me,” Mr. McDougle said. “[The FBI] thought I knew more than I did, and they were trying to get him. To me, he was just another friend, and that’s it.”
Mr. Manni declined to give his side of the story when reached this week at King Cole Foods grocery store in downtown Detroit — where his wife said he works. But he did say Mr. McDougle was innocent.
“Scooter didn’t do anything wrong,” said Mr. Manni, 50, who previously told The Blade he moved to the United States from Iraq about 30 years ago.
Other grocery store employees, who identified themselves as relatives or friends of Mr. Manni but declined to give their names, said if Mr. Manni were guilty, he would’ve been charged by now.
One of them said Mr. Manni bets on football, but he didn’t bribe UT athletes to shave points. The man also said Mr. Manni met several of the UT athletes at a birthday party.
The FBI has continued to decline comment on the case, other than to say it stands behind the original affidavit and the investigation is ongoing.
Federal agents said the point-shaving conspiracy began in the fall of 2003, when Mr. Manni was introduced to UT athletes by a Rockets football player he met at a cellular phone store in Toledo. Mr. Manni would “generally invite the players” to visit him in Detroit, according to the complaint, and would “treat them to dinner and pay for them to gamble at local casinos.”
The complaint also said that Mr. Manni offered a UT football player “up to $10,000 to sit out particular games.”
Mr. McDougle told The Blade this week that he occasionally met Mr. Manni for dinner and also met him at a casino, but said he paid for his entertainment at the casino with “my own money.”
And the King Cole Foods employees who know Mr. Manni said he never offered a UT player $10,000 not to play in a game. One of those employees said “we might’ve taken a few [UT athletes] to dinner … and if that’s a crime, indict us.”
UT President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs said last week that, if true, the point-shaving scheme at his university was an isolated incident and not “a product of the ethos of this department.”
Dr. Jacobs and Mike O’Brien, UT’s athletics director, yesterday declined comment.
“With anything going on with Scooter, we’re just not going to make any statements on it,” said Paul Helgren, UT’s assistant athletics director for media relations.Comment -
Nice...I was at the MAC Title game at Ford Field when Toledo beat Miami OH. I think they were -2 but Scooter carried them to a 35-27 victory with around 150 yards, must've had UT (like me) that day. Thats where they found that Manni guy's name on the UT guest list.Comment -
Toledo games over the year have been extremely shady...Comment -
Gradkowski's name is the latest to pop up in this scandal. Now you have to wonder how Roger Goodell might act to this news.
You can read the rest of this article hereAs summer ends, heat is on in Toledo point-shaving case
Sources said Gradkowski's name has come up during the investigation because of his role as the star quarterback and, presumably, his potential influence over the outcome of games. There is no indication, however, that Gradkowski is a target of the investigation or that he might be charged. The FBI has not yet interviewed Gradkowski, according to sources, but a league security representative said the NFL is aware that the quarterback's name has been mentioned with the Toledo investigation.
Buccaneers general manager Bruce Allen refused comment through a team spokesperson. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said it's a league policy not to comment on such matters, adding: "We're aware of that story, yes. It has been in the papers. But I don't think we want to go beyond that."
Ralph Cindrich, Gradkowski's agent, twice hung up when ESPN.com called about the Bucs' second-year quarterback, at one point saying: "I don't know anything about this. My client doesn't know anything about it. I don't have any comment."
Gradkowski's father, also named Bruce, said by phone from his home in Pittsburgh that his son hasn't told him much about the situation.Comment -
go figure...
Good article. Hear this plot weekly in Michigan...greasy dune stops committing food stamp fraud long enough to pull some other scam, yapping about it the entire time. If I didn't love my jaunts to the Glass Bowl so much Id actually be mad at the guy...Comment -
These guys IMO are someone to point the finger at... Coach STUTS (spelled wrong but it's how I spell it) is the one who they should be questioning... Amazing how NOT once has his name been brought up... He should be THE FIRST ONE they question IMO...
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yeah but
He's really fat, has a flat top, wears a whistle on the sideline, and always goes for it on fourth down. I love that fat bastard.
UT covers at the Glass Bowl baby...well they used to.
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shams and patrick,
great point about flat top tom...the guy has pulled some really weird shit the last couple of years...he had to be in on some of it...remember the bowl game when he kept Gradkowski's injury under wraps?...Comment -
Right....that was the UConn Motor City Bowl...he broke it the game before vs Miami HO which was also at Ford Field. Funny thing was that day he was gunslinging it all over the field. Then UConn drilled them 39-10 I think with Orlovsky at QB, ironically now a Lion. Hey, the Rockets never did have a "D".Comment -
patrick,
yeah I think him and Gradkowski got paid some fat cash to tank that bowl game...Edsall hasn't been back with his team since...Comment -
Even more details are coming out on this scandal.
Store owner denies hookup; claims he did not introduce gambler to UT's McDougle
By JOE VARDON
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The owner of a South Toledo cell phone store said yesterday that he knows both the football player and Detroit-area gambler linked by the FBI to an alleged point-shaving scheme at the University of Toledo.
But Marvin Savaya, 27, said he never introduced Ghazi "Gary" Manni to UT running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle, even though the FBI claims Manni first met a Rockets football player at a Toledo cell phone store operated by an "associate" of his.
And McDougle, 22, who was the only person charged by the FBI for his role in the alleged point-shaving scheme, said yesterday that it was former teammate Adam Cuomo, and not Savaya, who first introduced him to Manni.
"The only time I was ever in [Savaya's] store it was just me and Marvin," McDougle said.
Charges against McDougle were dropped, but the FBI said its investigation is ongoing.
The criminal complaint filed against McDougle on March 29 accused him of conspiring with Manni, 50, to convince UT football and basketball players to fix the scores of games.
The affidavit said McDougle bet on a UT football game, engaged in point-shaving, and recruited other university football and men's basketball players to shave points.
Cuomo was a senior running back when McDougle was a freshman in the fall of 2003 - the same time the FBI said the point-shaving scheme was hatched.
McDougle, also a running back, said Cuomo introduced him to Manni as a "friend," and the introduction didn't take place in a cell phone store.
Cuomo could not be reached for comment.
Savaya, who currently owns United Wireless on North Reynolds Road but has owned stores at numerous other Toledo locations in the past several years, said that McDougle and former UT basketball star Keith Triplett frequented his store.
But Savaya said Triplett didn't start to come to his store until after the conclusion of his playing career in 2005. He also said he can't remember Manni ever being in one of his stores.
"How could I introduce them if [Manni] has never been in my store?" Savaya said.
Savaya denied reports by other media outlets that he was Manni's cousin, but the two do share similar backgrounds.
Both were born in Iraq and moved to the United States, live in the Detroit suburb of Sterling Heights, Mich., and are Chaldeans, an ancient Christian sect that has been largely persecuted in Iraq.
Savaya first said yesterday that he and Manni were "friends" and knew each other just like "a thousand other Chaldeans know each other," but later said it was possible they were distant relatives because of their backgrounds.
"I mean, we're from the same small part of Iraq, so we could be related," Savaya said. "But as far as I know, we're not blood related."
Savaya said he gave McDougle and Triplett discounts on cell phone accessories and other store items "just like I do all my customers."
McDougle said he always paid for everything at Savaya's store.
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anyone that's watched any of Toledo's games the last 4 years know that some of these games had to have been fixed...Comment -
Even more info is surfacing on this scandal.
Detroit gambler denies fixing football games at Toledo
Published on Monday Sep 10, 2007
A Detroit-area gambler named in an FBI probe of gambling at the University of Toledo says he knew many football and basketball players at the school but they did not fix any games.
The FBI in March accused Ghazi "Gary" Manni of inviting athletes to gamble and dine with him at a Detroit casino and offering them money and gifts to sit out games.
Authorities never charged Manni, but former Toledo running back Harvey "Scooter" McDougle Jr. was charged with participating in a bribery scheme to influence sporting contests.
A month later, those charges were dropped, but the investigation continues.
Manni told The Blade on Sunday that he first met a Toledo player, whom he refused to name, at a Detroit casino in 2003.
After that, he met more players and even threw a party for one player near the campus.
He said he never gave any players cars, cell phones or cash, which investigators said he did in an affidavit filed in March. Manni told The Blade he did hand out money for gas and food.
Manni said he would ask players about their upcoming games and whether they were going to win. He would place bets based on their information.
But Manni said he lost money betting on Toledo games because the players were always sure that they were going to win.
That included quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, who now plays in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
"Not one time did Bruce ever say the team wasn't feeling good or they weren't going to win," Manni said.
Manni said he grew close to Gradkowski but did not give him anything of significant value. "I looked at Bruce like he was my own son," he told the newspaper.
Gradkowski told The Blade last month that he did not know Manni was a gambler, and that he never saw anything suspicious. "I know the guys I played with would never jeopardize winning or losing because of something like that," Gradkowski said.
McDougle is the only Toledo player that investigators have linked with Manni. McDougle has said he did nothing wrong and never changed how he played to affect the score in any games.
The FBI said that Manni and McDougle talked in 2005 about seeing if they could make money on a game between Toledo and Texas-El Paso.
Manni said he felt bad about what has happened to McDougle. "I never wanted to destroy anyone's career," he said.
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Here is the latest and greatest news on this Toledo point shaving investigation scandal.
Ex-UT star rejects plea, lawyer says; potential charges unspecified by federal authorities, he says
By JOE VARDON
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The attorney for a former University of Toledo basketball star said his client was offered — and refused — a potential plea agreement by federal authorities.
But whether the plea offer made to Keith Triplett was a result of an ongoing investigation into point shaving at UT was unclear, according to Mr. Triplett’s attorney, Ethan Vinson.
Mr. Vinson, based in Livonia, Mich., said he was retained as Mr. Triplett’s legal representation shortly after a Rockets football player was charged for his role in an alleged point-shaving scheme in March.
Mr. Vinson said federal agents asked him if Mr. Triplett would accept a plea deal, but would not disclose what charge he would plead to — or what legal action might be taken against him if he refused.
“If that’s the allegation, point shaving, that’s news to me,” Mr. Vinson told The Blade yesterday. “The feds have been playing this one very close to the vest. … Maybe they’re trying to maintain an element of surprise, I guess.”
Harvey “Scooter” McDougle, Jr., a former running back on the Rockets’ football team, was the lone person charged with conspiring to fix the outcomes of UT football and men’s basketball games. Those charges were dropped in April, but federal authorities have maintained the investigation is ongoing.
It now appears the inquiry has expanded to include a heightened emphasis on the UT basketball team.
In addition to federal agents’ interaction with Mr. Triplett’s attorney — Mr. Vinson said his client was also asked in the last two months to provide a fingerprint sample, but couldn’t because he’s playing professional basketball in Romania — at least one other former basketball player appeared before a federal grand jury in Detroit.
A parent of one former UT basketball player told The Blade his son appeared before a grand jury earlier this fall, and was told by authorities that at least two other former players also testified.
Mr. Vinson said Mr. Triplett did not engage in point shaving during his career at UT — which ended with the 2004-05 season — but thinks federal agents are pursuing his client because of his relationship with a Detroit-area gambler linked to the Rockets’ point-shaving scandal.
The FBI said Ghazi “Gary” Manni, of Sterling Heights, Mich., conspired with Mr. McDougle in a scheme to affect point margins of UT football and basketball games.
A federal affidavit, filed March 29, stated Mr. Manni provided players cash, cars, and entertainment at Detroit casinos in exchange for their cooperation with shaving points in a conspiracy that began in the fall of 2003.
In a previous interview with The Blade, Mr. Manni described relationships with many UT athletes in which he socialized with them, gave them small gifts, and spoke with them about their upcoming games, but emphatically denied that those relationships involved point shaving.
Mr. Triplett is a Bowsher High School graduate. He scored 1,814 points for UT, the third-most in school history.
Mr. Triplett previously told The Blade that he and many other UT athletes knew Mr. Manni, but said he was never approached by the gambler to shave points.
Mr. Triplett said he met Mr. Manni about three years ago through a local friend who “didn’t even play sports.” He said he and Mr. Manni talked about “street [stuff]” and not about sports.
Records show that Mr. Triplett was a refuse collector for the city of Toledo as late as August, but he now plays for CSU Atlassib Sibiu, a team in Romania’s top-tier professional league.
Mr. Vinson said he’s been representing Mr. Triplett for “several months” as a result of the federal investigation. Mr. Vinson also said his law firm, Cummings McClorey Davis & Acho, PLC, represents Mr. Manni on civil matters not related to the federal point-shaving investigation.
Gina Balaya, of the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit, said he had no comment on any of Mr. Vinson’s statements, and would only say the “investigation is ongoing.”
Mr. McDougle — the only UT athlete named in the federal point-shaving affidavit — would have been a senior on the 2006-07 Rockets football team. He was suspended from the program almost immediately after news broke about the charges against him and was never reinstated.
University officials said Mr. McDougle’s status with the team would be re-evaluated after the federal investigation concluded.
Last summer Mr. McDougle said he was on pace to graduate this month, but yesterday his father said he had to drop out of school this fall for financial reasons because his athletic scholarship wasn’t renewed by UT. Harvey McDougle, Sr., said his son would re-enroll and graduate this spring.
Larry Burns, UT’s vice president for marketing, communications, and enrollment services, said Mr. McDougle was notified last summer that his scholarship would not be renewed.Comment -
Florida 59 Kentucky 31 in 2007 was nearly as fishy as it gets, with Grossman's 45 yard TD pass with 10 seconds remainingComment -
i seem to remember a UK/Flor game in 99' or 00', it was close at half and then florida just destroyed them in the 2nd half. i don't remember the score or the line, but it seemed like UK just layed down in the 2nd half.Comment
