Gambler in Alabama baseball scandal sentenced to 8 months in prison

One of the major players in Alabama baseball’s gambling scandal that resulted in the firing and NCAA ban of coach Brad Bohannon has been sentenced in the U.S. district court for the northern district of Alabama. Bert Neff, an Indiana businessman, was sentenced to eight months in prison on Monday.

Neff will also serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison. He could have received up to a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to obstructing a federal grand jury investigation.

“Faced with a federal grand jury investigation, he worked to game the system,” assistant U.S. attorney Edward Canter wrote in a sentencing memorandum obtained by AL.com. “The defendant destroyed evidence, tampered with witnesses, and provided false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He did not do this once. He did it on dozens of occasions, and he did so for the greater part of a year.”

Neff must report to a designated facility to begin serving his sentence by Oct. 29, according to court records. The scandal at Alabama began with Neff attempting to place a bet on Alabama baseball after receiving a tip from Bohannon, who was about to announce his starting pitcher was out of an SEC matchup with LSU.

According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, Neff destroyed his cell phone and encouraged others to do so as well. He also allegedly tried to convince witnesses not to participate in a federal investigation and tried to coach witnesses before they testified in front of a grand jury.

“(Neff) demonstrated an uncommon persistence in his effort to obstruct justice,” Canter wrote. “Not only did he destroy his phone at the outset of the investigation. He doubled down on obstruction at every opportunity, compounding the seriousness of the offense.”

The game in question was played on April 23, 2023. Bohannon was fired in May.

The former Alabama coach was given a 15-year show cause order by the NCAA for his alleged actions. Any school that hires him must suspend him for the first five regular seasons of his tenure.

Alabama received three years of NCAA probation and a $5,000 fine for the incident. UA must also retain a firm that will provide gambling education to players, coaches and administrators.