Article published April 02, 2007
Read the affidavit in the UT point-shaving case
BLADE STAFF
A Detroit-area man who FBI agents say bribed University of Toledo athletes in a point-shaving scheme said Saturday that he doesn’t know why authorities were listening to his phone conversations with players.
But Ghazi “Gary” Manni admitted knowing and talking to Harvey “Scooter” McDougle, a running back on the UT football team who was charged Thursday in federal court with conspiracy to bribe sporting events.
“Yes, I know him,” said Mr. Manni, 50, when reached by phone at King Cole Foods, a grocery store in Detroit.
Mr. McDougle, 22, was arrested Friday in Toledo and appeared in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
UT officials announced that he was suspended from the team later that day.
A complaint filed in the court accuses Mr. McDougle, Mr. Manni, and others of bribing UT athletes to influence the final scores of football and basketball games so Mr. Manni could place winning bets with bookies.
Mr. Manni denied being involved in the alleged scandal with the athletes and ended the interview yesterday when his attorney, who was nearby, told him to hang up the phone.
Mr. Manni, who reportedly is a professional gambler, said he moved to the United States from Iraq nearly 30 years ago.
The affidavit of an FBI agent said calls to and from Mr. Manni’s home in Sterling Heights, Mich., were monitored in the investigation from November, 2005, to December, 2006.
The allegations that UT athletes may have participated in an illegal gambling operation by taking bribes stunned Mr. McDougle’s former teammates and others who were in the football program.
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