New York. The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday, along with more than 30 others, in a sweeping takedown of two gambling operations that authorities said leaked inside information about NBA athletes and rigged poker games backed by Mafia families.
Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes poker games tied to La Cosa Nostra crime families that defrauded unsuspecting gamblers out of at least $7 million. Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused in a separate scheme of exploiting confidential information about players to win bets on NBA games.
The indictments, unsealed in New York, cast a shadow over the NBA just as its season began this week. They highlight how certain types of wagers remain vulnerable to large-scale fraud in the rapidly expanding multibillion-dollar legal sports betting industry.
Joseph Nocella, the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, called the case “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”
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“My message to the defendants rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out,” Nocella said.
Both men face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. Also indicted was former NBA assistant coach and player Damon Jones, accused of participating in both schemes.
“The fraud is mind-boggling,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud, theft, and robbery across a multiyear investigation.”
Despite the staggering sums involved, prosecutors noted that the alleged illicit gains were small compared to the athletes’ legitimate earnings. Billups, inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, earned about $106 million during his 17-year career. Rozier has made roughly $160 million playing for Boston, Charlotte, and Miami.
The NBA said both Billups and Rozier have been placed on leave and that the league is cooperating with federal authorities.
“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness. The integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the NBA said in a statement.
Hours after his arrest, Rozier appeared in federal court in Orlando, Florida, wearing a Charlotte Hornets sweatshirt, handcuffs, and shackles. Billups appeared before a judge in Portland, Oregon. Both were released under certain conditions.
Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, denied the allegations, calling his client a “man of integrity.”
“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom, which he would not jeopardize for anything, let alone a card game,” Heywood said.
Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.” He criticized authorities for staging an arrest instead of allowing Rozier to surrender voluntarily, accusing officials of seeking “the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk.”
Messages seeking comment from Damon Jones were not returned.
About 20 other defendants appeared in federal court in Brooklyn, where most pleaded not guilty. Those with prior criminal records or ties to organized crime were detained.
Mafia-Linked Poker Games
Authorities said the poker scheme lured unsuspecting players into rigged games featuring former NBA stars like Billups and Jones. The games allegedly used altered card-shuffling machines, hidden cameras, special sunglasses, and even X-ray technology built into tables to read opponents’ cards.
Prosecutors said the operators were required to share proceeds with the Gambino, Genovese, and Bonanno crime families. Members of those families allegedly used violence, extortion, and robbery to ensure repayment of debts and maintain the operation’s success.
Inside Information and Rigged Bets
In the sports betting scheme, Rozier and others allegedly accessed private details about NBA players’ health or availability to manipulate betting outcomes. Players allegedly left games early or altered their performance to affect “prop bets” --wagers on specific player statistics.
In one example, prosecutors said Rozier told associates he planned to leave a 2023 game early with a fake injury, allowing bettors to cash in on prop bets worth tens of thousands of dollars. The game, against the New Orleans Pelicans, had sparked suspicion at the time when Rozier exited after just nine minutes, citing a foot issue.
Social media posts from that night showed bettors accusing sportsbooks of mishandling wagers, claiming something “shady” had happened.
The indictments also reference unnamed NBA players --believed to include LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Damian Lillard-- whose injury information was allegedly exploited for betting purposes. Those players are not accused of wrongdoing.
Rozier, who was under previous league investigation, suited up for the Heat on Wednesday in Orlando but did not play.
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