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Tim Donaghy (pronounced /ˈdɒnəgi/[2]) (born January 7, 1967 in Havertown, Pennsylvania)[3] is a former professional basketball referee who worked in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 13 seasons from 1994 to 2007.[4] During his career in the NBA, Donaghy officiated in 772 regular-season games and 20 playoff games.[4] Donaghy resigned from the league on July 9, 2007[5] prior to reports of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegations that he bet on games that he officiated during his last two seasons and that he made calls affecting the point spread in those games.[6] On August 15, 2007, Donaghy pleaded guilty to two federal charges related to the investigation. However, he could face more charges at the state level if it is determined that he deliberately miscalled individual games.
Donaghy attended Cardinal O'Hara High School in Springfield, Pennsylvania[3] and is one of four NBA referees from the same school along with Joey Crawford, Mike Callahan, and Ed Malloy.[7] Donaghy participated and earned honors in baseball and basketball during high school.[3] Following high school, Donaghy attended and graduated from Villanova University in 1989.[3] While at Villanova, he played on the school's baseball team.[1][4] His background information has been disputed. According to then-Villanova baseball coach George Bennett, Donaghy did not participate on the varsity team and there are no records indicating that he was selected to the All-Catholic team in baseball or named to the All-Delaware County basketball teamTim Donaghy is the son of Gerry Donaghy, a former Atlantic Coast and Atlantic 10 Conference basketball referee who worked four NCAA Final Fours in the early 1990s, including the 1992 championship game between Duke University and the University of Michigan.[9] Donaghy is also a nephew of former NBA referee Bill Oakes.[1]
He has been married to Kimberly since 1995 and together they have four children.[10][11] He currently resides in Bradenton, Florida.[3]
On September 6, 2007, Kimberly Donaghy filed for divorce from Tim Donaghy, citing that their marriage is "irretrievably broken."[11] She wants alimony, custody of their four girls, ages 6 to 11, and the majority share of their marital assetsPrior to officiating in the NBA, Donaghy spent five years working Pennsylvania high school games[3], seven seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), and was the head official for the 1993 CBA All-Star Game.[12] The following year, he joined the NBA.
In his 13-year career as an NBA official, Donaghy was considered one of the league's best, and was often among one of the select pool of officials who worked the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
Prior to the 2007 betting scandal, Donaghy was best known around the league as one of three referees who worked the infamous game between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers at The Palace of Auburn Hills on November 19, 2004 that ended with Pacers players fighting with Pistons fans.[13] This game was considered one of the darkest moments in NBA history, although Donaghy and the officials were not criticized for their role that nightDonaghy was also involved in another controversial incident in 2003 when he called a technical foul on Rasheed Wallace, then playing with the Portland Trail Blazers, for allegedly throwing a ball at another official during a game played at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, Oregon.[14] While Donaghy was leaving the arena, he was confronted by Wallace at the arena's loading dock in which Wallace screamed obscenities towards Donaghy.[14] Donaghy claimed Wallace threatened him, and after an investigation by the NBA, the league suspended Wallace for seven games.[14] This was the longest suspension issued by the league for an incident not involving violence or drugsDonaghy was involved in a dispute with neighbors in West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he lived for many years, before moving to Florida. It got to the point that a lawsuit was filed. Neighbors alleged that he harassed them by following them shouting obscenities during a round of golf, setting their tractor on fire, and driving their golf cart into a ravine.[16] Despite Donaghy's claims that he was the victim and not the aggressor (he called the police on a six-year old neighbor for throwing rocks into his yard), the dispute forced the NBA to take him off the roster of officials slated to work the second round of the 2006 NBA Playoffs. League officials let it be known that if the dispute continued, Donaghy would lose his job. It was the only year in the three seasons between 2004-05 and 2006-07 that he didn't work in the second roundOn July 20, 2007, a report of an investigation by the FBI into allegations of an NBA referee betting on games to control the point spread emerged by columnist Murray Weiss of the New York Post.[17] It was later revealed that Donaghy, who has a gambling problem, placed tens of thousands of dollars in bets on games during the 2005-06 NBA season and 2006-07 NBA season and had been approached by lower level mob associates to work on a gambling scheme.[18] Mike Missanelli of the Stephen A. Smith Show suggested that Donaghy had gotten himself into debt and tried to make it up by betting on games.[19]
The report sent shock waves through the NBA. While the league devotes significant resources to monitoring officials' performance, it only found out about the affair when the FBI stumbled upon Donaghy in the midst of a broader organized crime investigation.[20] NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement, "We would like to assure our fans that no amount of effort, time or personnel is being spared to assist in this investigation, to bring to justice an individual who has betrayed the most sacred trust in professional sports, and to take the necessary steps to protect against this ever happening againIn a press conference on July 24, Stern said that the NBA learned about the allegations surrounding Donaghy on June 20. He said that the league would have fired Donaghy immediately, but was advised not to do so. According to Stern, NBA referees are not only barred from betting on games, but can't provide information to anyone about their games or disclose their travel schedules outside their immediate families. Anyone who does so, he said, faces almost certain banishment from the league for life. He emphatically denied that the NBA knew about Donaghy's gambling and let him work anyway. He also called the Donaghy matter "an isolated case involving an NBA referee who engaged not only in a violation of our rules, but in criminal conduct" and "the most serious situation and worst situation that I have ever experienced" in 40 years with the NBASports gambling expert R. J. Bell, president of sports betting information site Pregame.com, tracked every game Donaghy worked from 2003 to 2007. He discovered that during the two seasons investigated by the NBA, the teams involved scored more points than expected by the Las Vegas sports books 57 percent of the time. In the previous two seasons, this only happened 44 percent of the time. According to Bell, the odds of such a discrepancy are 1 in 1,000, and there was "a 99.9 percent chance that these results would not have happened without an outside factor." He also found 10 straight games in 2007 in which Donaghy worked the game that the point spread moved 1.5 points or more before the tip — an indication that big money had been wagered on the game. The big money won every time —another indication that "something (was) going on". However, Bell suggested that there was no way anyone who wasn't in on the fix could have known that something was amiss about Donaghy's actions during a game; he said it would have been another year at the earliest before anyone could have caught on.[21]
Handicapper Brandon Lang told ESPN that it is fairly easy for a crooked sports official to fix a game, despite Stern's insistence that Donaghy was a "rogue official". According to Lang, an official can directly influence the outcome of a game 75 percent of the time if he has money on the game. For instance, Lang said that a crooked NBA referee can fix the total score by calling enough fouls to get both teams in the bonus. When a game is being fixed, Lang said, the officials should be the prime suspects because the players are making too much money to risk their future. Lang also believed a bookie connected to the mob turned Donaghy in to the FBIOn July 27, U.S. Congressman Bobby Rush of Illinois, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, asked to meet with Stern regarding the Donaghy matter. In a letter to Stern, Rush indicated that he might call a hearing "should the facts warrant public scrutiny." He also said that the affair could potentially be "one of the most damaging scandals in the history of American sportsEarlier in the day, federal sources told the New York Daily News that Donaghy would surrender to the FBI and plead guilty to gambling charges. The Daily News also learned that the bookies in the scandal were two high school classmates of Donaghy's who embellished their mob ties. The Daily News reported that at his friends' request, Donaghy passed word about the crews working the games they planned to bet on.[24] The Associated Press identified one of the men as James Battista, former owner of a sports bar in Havertown, Pennsylvania; a Philadelphia suburb. Battista's lawyer told the AP that his client expects to be indicted.[25]
For a time, Donaghy was incommunicado at his home in Bradenton. He reportedly claimed to be "the butler" to visiting reporters and turned his sprinklers on a freelance photographer for the New York Times when he got too close.[24] However, according to the Daily News, he and his family are now staying in an undisclosed location to avoid scrutiny. His wife, Kimberly, passed a note to reporters telling them not to bother asking them any questionsOn August 15, Donaghy appeared in a Brooklyn federal court and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting wagering information through interstate commerce. Donaghy told U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon that he used coded language to tip Battista about players' physical condition and player/referee relations. In doing so, Donaghy disclosed classified information that he obtained as an NBA referee. Donaghy initially received $2,000 per correct pick, but his calls were so accurate that Battista increased his take to $5,000. In total, he received $30,000 to pass inside information to the bookies.[27] Another high school friend of Donaghy's, James Martino, acted as the middle man. Donaghy also admitted that he had a severe gambling addiction, and is currently on medication to address it.[28]
Donaghy specifically admitted to passing information about two games during the 2006-07 season. Prosecutors also said that Donaghy bet on games himself. Battista and Martino are currently in federal custody and awaiting arraignment on conspiracy charges. Donaghy was fined $500,000, and will also have to pay at least $30,000 in restitution.[29]ESPN legal analyst Lester Munson believes that Battista is one of the FBI's prime targets, based on the large amounts of money he bet.[30]
Donaghy was released on a $250,000 bond and is currently awaiting sentencing on January 25, 2008.[31] He could face up to 25 years in prison.[32] However, he will almost certainly get far less than that if he cooperates with the government.[30]
According to published reports, Donaghy plans to expose other NBA referees for violating the league's strict anti-gambling policy.According to the Associated Press, Andrew Thomas, the county attorney for Maricopa County, Arizona; has asked the NBA and FBI if Donaghy intentionally miscalled two Phoenix Suns road playoff games. The games in question occurred on April 29 versus the Los Angeles Lakers and May 12 versus the San Antonio Spurs. In a letter to Stern and FBI director Robert Mueller, Thomas said that Donaghy's conduct may have violated Arizona criminal law, and could face charges there.[34] Donaghy's federal plea deal has no standing regarding state charges, and it is possible that he could face charges in other states as well.
On June 10, 2008, Donaghy's attorney filed a court document alleging, among other things, that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings was fixed by two referees. The letter states that Donaghy "learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be 'company men', always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series."[35] The Lakers won Game 6, attempting 18 more free throws than the Kings in the fourth quarter, and went on to win the 2002 NBA Finals. The teams were not named, but the Western Conference Finals was the only seven-game series that year.[36]
The document claimed that Donaghy told federal agents that in order to increase television ratings and ticket sales, "top executives of the NBA sought to manipulate games using referees".[35] It also said that NBA officials would tell referees to not call technical fouls on certain players, and states that a referee was privately reprimanded by the league for ejecting a star player in the first quarter of a January 2000 game.[35] Stern denied the accusations, calling Donaghy a "singing, cooperating witness

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