Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups were arrested as part of FBI probes into illegal gambling, federal officials announced Thursday.
"This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years," FBI Director Kash Patel said at a news conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Thirty-four people were arrested, including former NBA player Damon Jones, as part of the ongoing investigation that spanned 11 states, included an alleged illegal poker operation tied to the mafia and resulted in two indictments.
Rozier and Jones are accused of involvement in an illegal sports betting scheme. Billups and Jones are among 31 defendants charged in criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games.
The NBA said it is "in the process of reviewing" the indictments. Billups and Rozier were placed on immediate leave from their teams.
"Not only did we crack into the fraud these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA, but we also entered and executed a system of justice against La Cosa Nostra, to include the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families," Patel said.
Charges from the arrests include wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery and illegal gambling.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella, Jr. called the Rozier case "one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized" in the United States.
Prosecutors said Thursday that the cases involving Rozier and Billups are separate, but include some connections. Jones is among three people named in both indictments.
Rozier and Billups were to make respective federal court appearances Thursday in Orlando, Fla., and Portland, Ore.
Rozier, arrested Thursday in Orlando, is accused of participating in an "insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information about NBA athletes and teams," Nocella said.
Eric Earnest, Marves Fairley, Shane Hennen and Deniro Laster join Rozier and Jones as defendants in that indictment. Nocella said other co-conspirators were previously charged for their roles in the scheme, including former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter, who has been banned from the NBA.
Nocella said the parties used the scheme, carried out from December 2022 to March 2024, to bet on inside, non-public information using friendships with players and coaches to discover when players would sit out future games or exit games early due to alleged illnesses.
The wagers were mostly of the prop-bet variety -- or those made based on an outcome within the game instead of just the final result -- and placed through online sportsbooks or at casinos.
They involved players on the Charlotte Hornets, Los Angeles Lakers, Raptors and Blazers. Each defendant in the NBA gambling case has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
An FBI probe into the activities was dubbed "Operation Nothing But Bet."
The other FBI probe into the poker scheme, dubbed "Royal Flush," revealed the alleged use of "wireless cheating technology to run rigged poker games across the United States."
Those games took place in the Hamptons and Manhattan in New York, Las Vegas and Miami. A totaled of 31 defendants are involved in that case, including more than a dozen from Mafia families.
Officials said further arrests are possible depending on additional evidence uncovered through their investigation.
"We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today," the NBA said. "Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities.
"We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority."
Rozier's attorney, James Trusty, issued a statement denying that his client is a gambler and "looks forward to winning this fight."
Rozier, 31, did not play in the Heat's season-opening loss Wednesday to the Orlando Magic. The 10-year veteran is on the final year of a 4-year, $96.2 million contract.
Billups, 49, coached the Blazers during a 118-114 season-opening loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday in Portland. The Blazers hired the Hall of Fame guard as their coach in 2021.
Jones, 49, spent 11 seasons as an NBA player. He appeared in games for 10 different teams from 1998-99 through 2008-09. He worked as an assistant coach from the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2016 to 2018.