Former University of San Diego Assistant Basketball Coach Thaddeus Brown Sentenced for Conspiring to Commit Sports Bribery

United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy announced that Thaddeus Brown was sentenced today in federal court in San Diego by the Honorable Anthony J. Battaglia to serve 12 months in custody, followed by three years’ supervised release, for his role in a conspiracy to commit sports bribery. The indictment charged that Brown and others influenced the outcome of basketball games at the University of San Diego during the 2009-2010 season and then attempted to recruit players to do the same during the 2010-2011 season. Brown pleaded guilty to the indictment on November 13, 2012. To date, eight of the 10 defendants indicted have pled guilty.

According to court documents and admissions from co-defendants’ guilty pleas, Brown, who was an assistant coach at USD during the 2006-2007 season, bribed co-defendant Brandon Johnson to influence the outcome of basketball games during the 2009-2010 season while Johnson was a member of USD’s basketball team. Brown and his co-conspirators then profited by placing bets at Las Vegas casinos on games Johnson influenced. Co-defendant Steve Goria, who was sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment in October 2012, admitted that the conspiracy profited more than $120,000 from the game-fixing scheme. Brown admitted in his guilty plea that during the 2010-2011 season, he solicited a current USD basketball player to influence the outcome of basketball games for bribe money.

Judge Battaglia ordered the defendant to report on June 5, 2013. to begin serving his sentence.

Defendant in Criminal Case No. 11CR1345-AJB
Thaddeus Brown

Summary of Charges
Count one: Title 18, United States Code, Section 371-conspiracy

Investigating Agency
Federal Bureau of Investigation