Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier were arrested on Thursday in connection with two large federal gambling investigations that also involved other NBA figures, according to federal authorities in New York.
Billups is one of 31 defendants, some of whom are alleged Mafia members, accused of participating in a nationwide scheme to rig poker games using “high-tech cheating technology to steal millions of dollars from victims in underground poker games,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said at a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel.
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Victims of the alleged scheme have lost at least $7.15 million since 2019, according to the indictment filed in Brooklyn federal court.
Damon Jones, a former NBA player, was also arrested on Thursday.
Jones is charged in both the poker-related indictment against Billups and the indictment charging Rozier and others with a conspiracy in which basketball bettors allegedly used leaked inside information about players to make winning wagers.
Jones reportedly leaked medical information about Los Angeles Lakers players to bettors while serving as an unofficial coach for the team, according to a sports betting indictment in Brooklyn.
According to the indictment, Jones disclosed information to bettors about the injury status of Lakers superstar LeBron James before a February 2023 game and Lakers player Anthony Davis before a January 2024 game.
Rozier allegedly told a longtime friend in 2023, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets, that he planned to leave a game early due to a supposed injury, so the friend could place bets against Rozier performing well in that game.
Rozier, 31, and Billups, 49, “are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities,” according to an NBA statement. “The integrity of our game remains our top priority, and we take these allegations with the utmost seriousness.”
Jontay Porter, a former Toronto Raptors player, was previously charged in the sports gambling scheme. In July 2024, Porter pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.
According to Nocella, in the suspected Billups poker game plan, conspirators employed equipment such as poker chip tray analyzers and manipulated shuffling machines to convey information about players’ hands to an off-site operator.
The defendants also employed special glasses or contact lenses “that could read pre-marked cards and an x-ray table that could read cards face down on the table,” according to Nocella.
He said that the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese crime groups were behind the games held in the New York area.
According to FBI Assistant Director Christopher Raia, Rozier and Jones, who played in the NBA from 1998 to 2009, along with four other people, “are said to have shared secret information about upcoming NBA games and player performances, like medical details and a player’s plans to change how they play, which helped certain bettors in their close circle.”
“This alleged collusion resulted in the defendants secretly pocketing their lavish winnings and corrupting NBA games,” Raia told reporters.
Prosecutors claim Rozier, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets, informed a long-time friend, Deniro Laster, that he intended to leave a game on March 23, 2023, early “due to a purported injury.”
Laster and two other defendants in the case, Marves Fairley and Shane Hennen, then “used that confidential information to place and direct more than $200,000 in wagers predicting Rozier’s ‘under’ statistics,” which meant he would underperform in key areas of play, according to prosecutors.
“Rozier exited the game after nine minutes, and many of the bets paid off, generating tens of thousands of dollars in profits,” according to the prosecution. “Laster collected the cash and drove through the night to Rozier’s house, where together they counted the profits.”
Billups, a former Detroit Pistons player who lasted 17 seasons in the NBA, was arrested in Portland, Oregon. Billups, a five-time All-Star, was elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
Billups was voted NBA Championship Most Valuable Player in 2004, when the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the league championships.
He faces charges of wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
Prior to his arrest, Rozier, a 10-year NBA veteran, was reportedly under investigation for months for questionable sports betting activities involving his play.
He faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money.
Rozier was arrested in Orlando, Florida, and freed after making his initial appearance in federal court there on Thursday afternoon. A magistrate judge ordered Rozier to post his $6 million mansion in the state as collateral for a bond. He did not make a plea.
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, told CNBC in a statement that prosecutors “appear to be taking the word of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing.”
“Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight,” Trusty informed me.
Billups was released after appearing before a federal judge in Oregon, on the condition that he post a significant release bond when he comes to federal court in Brooklyn to answer the charges.
In a statement, Billups’ attorney, Chris Heywood, said, “Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others.”
“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom,” according to Heywood. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
FanDuel, one of the NBA’s official betting partners, issued a statement saying, “Today’s events are deeply disturbing and should concern fans, athletes, and everyone who loves sports and values integrity and fair play.”
“They also illustrate the stark contrast between legal and illegal betting markets. At FanDuel, we use advanced technology and real-time monitoring to identify suspicious activity and work closely with leagues, data monitoring groups, and law enforcement,” the company said.
