USI Case Studies
Learn more about how USI helps our clients through three sample case studies involving student-athlete safety, referee monitoring, and social media.
Case Study #1: Student Athlete Safety
How US Integrity leveraged domain expertise and investigatory relationships to ensure student-athlete safety
At the conclusion of a collegiate basketball contest in which the score was 77-70 – with the home team closing as an 8-point favorite – the home team’s shooting guard was fouled, leading to two consequential free throw attempts. Although the game was out of reach for the away team, they were still covering the full game point spread as an underdog. The home team missed both free throws, the clock ran out, and the score went final.
Later that evening, the home team shooting guard who had missed two free throws at the end of the contest alerted coaches and team officials that he had received threats via direct message on Instagram. Specifically, the sender of the Instagram messages indicated that because of those two missed free throws, he had lost a significant amount of money betting on the home team favorite. Further, he accused the player of purposely missing the free throws and alleged that the player was attempting to shave points.
Using our access to real betting data, relationships with various sportsbook operators throughout the country, and contacts within relevant investigatory agencies, U.S. Integrity assisted our client with a challenging, nuanced investigation into the allegations and the Instagram messages. Ultimately, U.S. Integrity– in conjunction with certain regulatory bodies – located the culprit and handed him off to law enforcement. Throughout the process, we maintained confidentiality and professionalism, ensuring that the student-athlete’s identity and surrounding details were never released to the media.
Case Study #2: Social Media
How US Integrity mitigates reputational and procedural risk via social media monitoring.
Social media has become an integral part of the communication between athletes, fans, and other stakeholders. Additionally, social media, especially Twitter, is an extremely popular medium for gamblers who are attempting to obtain or sell material and insider information related to injuries, eligibility, suspensions and more. This creates vulnerabilities for coaches, trainers and student-athletes.
U.S. Integrity can monitor and assess social media risks. In one circumstance, we identified a handicapper (or “tout”) tweeting about his relationship with a Division I basketball team’s point guard, and certain promises the student-athlete had made to him about his upcoming play. He even tweeted screen shots of alleged conversations with the student-athlete, in an attempt to prove his relationship with the athlete.
The “tout” would then suggest picks on games including the relevant school and sell them to his members. U.S. Integrity was able to identify and escalate this situation in real time so that the university staff could speak to the student-athlete about the situation. The discussions between the athlete and the university allowed the situation to be handled prior to the public release of any insider or proprietary information on Twitter.