The charges come as part of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s (DCI) sports integrity probe.
Among those charged was Iowa State running back Jirehl Brock. He is accused of placing four bets on games involving his own team. Prosecutors allege that he played in two of these games.
The first round of charges were issued on 1 August. At that time, seven individuals were charged.
In May, the University of Iowa reported 26 athletes across five sports were suspected of betting on sports. Betting on sports is against National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rules.
Use of third party accounts to conceal betting
The four have all been charged with using a third party sports betting account to make bets. This practice would have concealed that the now-charged individuals were placing the bets.
Over the course of his wagering activity, Brock placed 1,327 mobile bets for a collective cost of $12,050. In addition, Brock placed 13 bets on Iowa State basketball games.
Brock is accused of using a third party’s account to hide his wagers, which were made on the FanDuel Platform.
The prosecutors said this represented a “scheme… enabling Brock to disguise his identity and manipulate online/mobile transactions to create the appearance that sports wagering transactions conducted by Brock were conducted by [the third party]”.
“This deception enabled Jirehl Brock to conceal unlawful gambling activities from law enforcement and other regulatory bodies.”
The prosecutors claimed this violated FanDuel terms and conditions, as well as NCAA and university guidelines. Additionally, they chose to highlight the unfair wagering implications, the potential for conflicts of interest and the tax implications of his betting.
Deshawn Hanika, Isaiah Lee and Jacob Remsburg were also charged. Prosecutors allege that Hanika made wagers totalling $1,262, Lee made wagers of $885 and Remsburg made wagers totalling $1,108 during the time periods alleged.
University responds to latest charges
“Since becoming aware of potential NCAA eligibility issues related to sports wagering by several of our student athletes back in May, Iowa State university has been actively working to address these issues with the involved student athletes, and that process remains ongoing,” said Iowa State senior athletics director Nick Joos in a statement released Thursday.
“We will continue to support our student athletes as our compliance staff works with the NCAA to sort out questions surrounding their future eligibility for athletics competition.”
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/legal/iowa-state-gambling-investigation/
