Bert Neff, an obscure Indiana youth baseball coach, has been sentenced to eight months in jail for his position in an insider betting scandal that ended the profession of College of Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon.
The Crimson Tide’s former coach Brad Bohannon, above, inexplicably destroyed his profession by sharing info with Bert Neff, a “skilled gambler” and youth baseball coach from Indiana. (Picture: The Crimson White)
In March, Neff pleaded responsible to obstruction of justice costs – particularly, destroying proof, tampering with witnesses, and offering false statements to the FBI. This was in connection to a federal investigation into irregularities surrounding a Southeastern Convention recreation between Alabama and LSU performed on April 28, 2023.
Alabama fired Bohannon in Might following experiences of suspicious betting exercise across the recreation. He was later handed a de facto life ban from the NCAA after he was discovered to have leaked info to Neff about an damage to Alabama pitcher Luke Holman that dominated him out for the sport.
This info would have been gold mud to a gambler betting on the sport, which LSU ran out successful 8-6.
Bohannon had been Alabama’s coach since 2018, incomes an annual wage of $500K. It’s not identified why he shared the knowledge or whether or not he anticipated to revenue from Neff’s actions.
Cat Out of the Bag
Had been it not for Neff’s conspicuous ineptitude, the world could have by no means heard of the conspiracy. Shortly earlier than the sport started, Neff turned up on the sportsbook at Ohio’s Nice American Ballpark, dwelling to the Cincinnati Reds, and tried to position $100K on LSU.
This aroused suspicion as a result of there was little or no betting site visitors on the sport. Furthermore, the proposed wager was far better than the sportsbook’s restrict on NCAA video games.
Sensing that sportsbook workers have been reluctant to take the wager, Neff tried to influence them by insisting that it was “for positive going to win,” including that “if solely you guys knew what I knew,” in accordance with court docket paperwork. Neff proceeded to point out workers the messages from Bohannon in regards to the damage to Holman.
“Holman is out for positive … lemme know after I can inform LSU … Hurry,” Bohannon had written, in accordance with the filings.
‘Gamed the System’
Neff positioned a further wager on the sport with a competing sportsbook and shared the knowledge with not less than 4 different gamblers, in accordance with federal court docket paperwork.
Bert Eugene Neff is knowledgeable gambler,” stated assistant US legal professional Edward Canter in court docket paperwork. “Confronted with a federal grand jury investigation, he labored to recreation the system.
“The defendant destroyed proof, tampered with witnesses, and offered false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Canter added. “He didn’t do that as soon as. He did it on dozens of events, and he did so for the better a part of a yr.”
