ESPN decided that yesterday was a good day to dust off the Tim Donaghy story.
You do really need to read the depth in which this article goes -- this is just the Cliff's Notes, and ESPN needs to be credited for this work.
A two-year investigation into Donaghy and his impact on the NBA (and who he had connections with) led to
this article, stating openly, for the first time, that a major American sports league had relatively recent matches fixed.
(ESPN has been a broadcast partner in NBA games since 2002.)
Now, the NBA has done a very good job of distancing Donaghy as a single rogue official.
It has also done a very poor job, even with improvements under Commissioner Silver, convincing most Americans that most games, to one form (tanking) or another (the referees and league) aren't fixed.
In short, the first takeaway is that Donaghy never should've been allowed to referee in this league at all.
The NBA should've investigated ties that Donaghy had to underground gamblers going all the way back to his parochial high school just outside Philadelphia -- and continued for 25 years since.
Starting in December of 2006, Jimmy Battista (the "Sheep", among several other nicknames), well down in significant gambling debt, decided to call on his old friend Donaghy, and started asking him simple favors:
Make sure the games go how Battista needs them to go, and Donaghy pockets an extra $2,000.
An NBA referee in 2009 could make anywhere from $90,000 to $300,000 over the course of a season, depending on seniority, according to a poster on
officiating.com.
If not, there's no penalty, but it is an encouragement to use the power of the NBA official to manipulate the games the way that Battista sees fit.
But Battista was in debt to a number of people, in an illegal hedge-fund-ish sort of arrangement of a massive gambling junket. Battista, himself, was what is called in the parlance, a "mover", a person who does this kind of thing for people who might not otherwise have the right, or who might be looking to have a particular game at a particular (possible) spread.
A second, mutual friend from the same high school worked as a liaison betwen Battista and Donaghy.
But, perhaps the most important thing to note in the early part of this article is that the article lists fourteen NBA referees from the Philadelphia area. Any one of the other 13 could also have similarly manipulated contests for this hedge fund of Battista's, and the names are often infamous with some of the believed-rigged contests over the years. Ed T. Rush and Joey Crawford are only two names on that list -- two of the more infamous NBA officials who have been believed to have manipulated games.
Just as one ominous example:
- Tom Washington refereed Game 1 of the infamous 2002 Western Conference Finals.
- Joey Crawford did Game 7.
- The supervisor of the officials for the league, and since 1998? Edward T. Rush.
Donaghy was heavily involved in gambling since at least October of 2002, when another mutual friend devised a handicapping system for football games.
By the next calendar year, Donaghy and his friend were betting the NBA, and exclusively games Donaghy was officiating. This would mean, ESPN points out, that there were openly-rigged games in the NBA, at the bare minimum, from the 2002-2003 season to when Donaghy was caught out at some point four seasons later.
Tim's wife Kim knew something was up in 2004, but was scared for her safety to say anything when he found rolls of $100 bills -- large rolls -- in the pocket of his official jacket. Kim divorced Tim after Tim was caught in 2007.
An offshore syndicate of bookies caught onto a golfing buddy of Donaghy's when they began to notice a pattern of that person losing bets at a normal $100-$500 level on most NBA games, but consistently winning $5,000 bets on games Donaghy was an official.
The syndicate decided to up the ante, making bets of $30,000 to $100,000 on games Donaghy refereed, finding that, in fact, Donaghy was blowing for more fouls for the team he needed to have on the wrong end of the spread and fewer for the team who was to benefit.
Of course, they had to do this carefully: Do it without the requisite care, and tip off league officials and whatever gaming officials exist where they were.
By December of 2006, it was no longer able to be ignored that particular bettors were winning massive sums consistently on games Donaghy refereed, and no amount of care would be possible not to tip people off anymore.
This forced Battista to make the above-mentioned offer (exclusive knowledge of the fix for $2,000 a correct pick) to Donaghy, to try to reduce the damage and hope the heat died down. Though it is largely believed there was no penalty for the bets losing, Donaghy claimed to Federal agents that Battista threatened to sic the NBA on him if they lost.
The next night, Donaghy told Battista to bet the Celtics, 2.5 point favorites against Philadelphia.
In almost perfect fixing motifs, Boston was 7-13 in the young NBA season, Philly 5-15.
Boston won by 20. And the ESPN article notes that action based on Battista's knowledge probably moved half a million dollars in bets through Battista and his hedge fund, which eventually moved the Vegas line from Boston -2.5 to Boston -4.
Donaghy, through the second mutual friend, was able to communicate winning bet after winning bet to the hedge-fund, using the names of two further mutual friends to dictate whether to take one side of the game or the other.
$2,000 per win became $5,000 per win -- and it was now clear that Donaghy had a significant amount of cash on the side. Moves as much as FIVE POINTS on an NBA line were percolating on games Donaghy refereed. The article gives several indications as to games Donaghy fixed in the 2006-2007 season in this regard.
But Battista, as always happens, wanted too much -- he took that money and lost millions on stuff he didn't (or couldn't) have angles on. And that's when the FBI, knowing Donaghy was in the pocket of Battista, contacted Battista.
By June 21, 2007, the FBI was in New York and meeting with NBA Commissioner David Stern. The head investigator in the case, Phil Scala, felt that meeting was a mistake, which probably led to the story leaking a month later and blowing up the prospect of them possibly finding other NBA officials as on the take.
--
But here you are:
- Donaghy had at least two long-time friends, probably three, in some of these syndicates.
- A distinct pattern of at least four seasons of games Donaghy bet on that he was refereeing.
- And, once the FBI got him and some of the people behind it, the "fixers" of the NBA blow up the investigation to ensure that, of the league, only Donaghy takes the fall. And Phil Scala believes this to be true.
To give you an idea of how angry Scala was, there is the belief Donaghy, alone, could've influenced $100,000,000 in illegal underground bets from when the information started flowing to when he was caught. And you need to read the ESPN article to see the level of power players that were in on this scheme, and well could have benefitted from it -- from crime bosses to Hollywood celebrities and anyone with enough money to bet in between!
The NBA, still today, believes Donaghy never fixed a game.
The investigation ESPN did over two years indicates otherwise.
You awake yet, Sports Nation America?
Whether you are or are not,
READ THIS ESPN ARTICLE.
