NEW YORK CITY — The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn and FBI Director Kash Patel announced on Thursday charges against a current NBA player and head coach related to federal investigations into gambling and “sports rigging” that are allegedly tied to organized crime.
NBA head coach Chauncey Billups and player Terry Rozier, are among more than 30 people arrested in a separate but related illegal sport betting case.
“We are here in New York to announce a historic arrest across a wide, sweeping criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra,” Patel said at a news conference.
Billups, Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones were taken into custody earlier today, according to Patel.
Billups is facing charges in connection to an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia. According to U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr., rigged shuffling machines and X-ray technology were used in the scheme.
Rozier and Jones are accused of passing inside information to four co-conspirators, who passed the intel to sports better, who then placed wagers with an online sports book.
Federal authorities have pointed to a game on March 23, 2023, when Rozier then playing for the Charlotte Hornets passed along to his co-conspirators that he would leave the game early with an apparent injury —A 200,000 wager was then placed that he would underperform on his predicted statistics for that game.
Thirteen Mafia members and associates were also arrested in connection with the schemes, according to prosecutors.