Authorities: Former UT running back admits role in point-shaving scheme

4/23/2009
BY MAUREEN FULTON
BLADE SPORTS WRITER

A former University of Toledo football player admitted to his participation in a point-shaving scheme involving UT football and basketball teams, according to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Detroit earlier this week.

According to the criminal complaint, originally filed last August, Adam Cuomo, who was a senior backup running back in 2003 for the Rockets, told federal agents he began the point-shaving scheme with Gary, who is believed to be Ghazi Manni of Sterling Heights, Mich. The scheme is thought to have began in the fall of 2003 and continued until the winter of 2006.

Cuomo, of Hamilton, Ont., rushed just six times for 23 yards his senior season, but said he provided information to Gary about upcoming UT games to help Gary place bets on the games, according to the documents. He also introduced numerous UT men s basketball and football players to Gary for the purpose of asking them to participate in point-shaving.

Harvey Scooter McDougle, who was charged in March, 2007, for recruiting UT football and basketball players for Manni but later the charges were dropped, told The Blade in August, 2007, that Cuomo first introduced him to Manni. McDougle was a freshman running back in 2003.

The documents show Cuomo was recorded on at least two wiretapped calls to Gary in December of 2005, including one on the morning of Dec. 21, 2005, the day of UT s appearance in the GMAC Bowl against UTEP. The complaint says Cuomo told Gary he was going to use a senior UT football player as an intermediary to convince a senior offensive lineman to help shave points in an upcoming game by committing penalties. The Rockets won the GMAC Bowl 45-13.