Point-shaving saga continues

According to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Detroit this week, former Toledo running back Adam Cuomo admitted to his involvement in an alleged point-shaving scheme involving both the UT football and basketball teams.

The criminal complaint, which was filed last August, says, “Cuomo stated that he was the University of Toledo player who started the point-shaving scheme with ‘Gary.’”

“Gary,” who is believed to be 52-year-old grocery store manager Ghazi Manni of Sterling Heights, Mich., is reportedly the focus of the two-year federal gambling investigation. Manni allegedly paid Cuomo and other UT athletes between the fall of 2003 and winter of 2006 to affect the outcomes of their games.

While assisting “Gary” by providing him with information about Toledo’s upcoming games and how to bet, the complaint also asserted that Cuomo brought “numerous” basketball and football players to Detroit “for the specific purpose of ‘Gary’ asking them to participate in the point-shaving scheme.”

Sammy Villegas, a former Toledo basketball player, is scheduled to be sentenced June 18 after he was charged last summer with fixing games during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

Former UT running back Harvey “Scooter” McDougle was also charged with a gambling offense, but the charge was dropped after a procedural matter.

“We are aware of the criminal complaint, and if the allegations are proven to be true, they certainly do not fit within the university’s values system,” UT Vice President of External Affairs Larry Burns said. “We take this matter very seriously. However, we also consider it past history. The UT athletic program has a very bright future, and we are moving forward.”

Cuomo, a Hamilton, Ontario native, was a 26-year-old senior during the 2003 season, in which he rushed just six times for 24 yards.

Federal investigators were led to Cuomo after he was picked up on at least two wiretapped phone calls, both occurring after his departure from the school.

The complaint says the first call occurred on Dec. 1, 2005 when Cuomo informed “Gary” that he had recruited a Toledo basketball player to participate in shaving points in his team’s games.

The second call is described to have taken place on the morning of the Toledo football team’s appearance in the GMAC Bowl, Dec. 21, 2005. The complaint states that Cuomo said “he was going to use a senior University of Toledo football player already participating in the point-shaving scheme as an intermediary in an attempt to recruit a senior offensive lineman to help shave points in an upcoming football game by committing penalties during the game.”

“Gary” offered to pay the offensive lineman $500, but was swayed by Cuomo to go as high as $1,000. No senior offensive lineman committed a penalty in the game. The Rockets went on to defeat the University of Texas-El Paso 45-13.

The complaint says that Cuomo was introduced to “Gary” through an operator of a cell phone store in Toledo after the running back introduced him to other UT players who “gave him information to use in placing wagers on University of Toledo football and basketball games.”

Although not admitting to any wrongdoing, McDougle told ESPN.com on Thursday that he met Manni at a Detroit restaurant during his freshman year through Cuomo.

“We ended up meeting through [Cuomo],” McDougle said. “He told me he wanted me to meet one of his friends. We just talked, and that was it.”