Hunter
11/7/25
A US District Judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by student athletes at the University of Iowa and ISU who claimed that federal investigators violated their rights by conducting what amounted to unwarranted searches of their information and location.
The Des Moines Register reports the athletes were accused of using online gambling apps and suffered consequences ranging from NCAA suspensions to criminal charges.
The May 2023 investigation implicated hundreds of students, with dozens receiving athletic suspensions of various lengths. The Register reports 26 current and former students were criminally charged in Story and Johnson counties. Those cases resulted in 19 convictions, each resolved with $645 citations for underage gambling.
The probe came under fire when an investigator reportedly used software provided by the company GeoComply to look for people opening betting apps in athletics facilities.
GeoComply software is used by gambling operators and regulators to ensure that bets follow the regulations of the state where they are placed, but it is not typically used in criminal investigations, and the controversy eventually led the company to cancel the DCI’s access to the software. The agent did not obtain warrants before conducting his location searches, and in their subsequent lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued those searches violated their Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures.
This week US District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that although the investigators may have violated the student athletes rights, they are nonetheless entitled to immunity.