An NBA player and coach are among dozens of people arrested as part of a sweeping FBI investigation into illegal sport betting and allegedly rigged, mafia-linked poker games.
Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were named by federal prosecutors in two separate indictments on Thursday.
Both men deny the allegations.
Rozier (31) is among six people arrested over alleged betting irregularities.
They include National Basketball Association (NBA) players accused of faking injuries to influence gambling markets.
Billups, a Hall of Fame player turned coach, is one of 31 people charged in a separate illegal poker game case involving retired players and the mafia.
That case, which prosecutors said involved four of the five major crime families in New York, uncovered an alleged scheme to lure victims into playing rigged poker games alongside high-profile sport stars before stealing millions of dollars.
They did so using technology including special contact lenses and glasses that could read pre-marked cards and an X-ray table, according to authorities.
The NBA says in a statement that Rozier and Billups were being placed on immediate leave as it reviews the federal indictments.
“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” it says.
Rozier’s lawyer denied the allegations to CBS News, the BBC’s United States (US) partner, saying: “Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”
He appeared in federal court in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday and was released on bail after he put up his Florida home – valued at US$6 million (about N$ 104 million) – as collateral, according to local media.
Billups, who has coached the Portland Trail Blazers since 2021, was arrested in Portland, Oregon, and arraigned in court on Thursday, according to local media. He is expected to prepare a substantial bond for his release, too.
His lawyer, Chris Heywood, also denies the accusations, telling CBS in a statement: “He will fight these allegations with the same tenacity that marked his 28-year career. We look forward to our day in court.”
FBI director Kash Patel held a news conference with other prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday where he announced the two indictments.
He called the arrests “extraordinary” and said there was a “co-ordinated takedown across 11 states”.
“We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation,” he said.
US attorney for the eastern district of New York Joseph Nocella Jr say all defendants were innocent until proven guilty, but warns: “Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out.”
NBA GAMES UNDER SCRUTINY
Prosecutors say the first case involved players and associates who allegedly used information not available to the public to manipulate bets on major gambling platforms.
Nocella Jr calls it “one of the most brazen sport corruption schemes since online sport betting became widely legalised”.
Seven NBA games between February 2023 and March 2024 have been identified as part of the case. Rozier is said to have been involved in one between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans, when he was playing for the Hornets.
Rozier is alleged to have told a friend that he would leave the game early due to injury. The friend and his associates then placed bets, or directed others to bet, “more than US$200 000 (about N$3.4 million)” that Rozier would underperform expectations in the game, prosecutors say.
He left the game after nine minutes, they say, which resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in betting profits for those involved.
During the game, Rozier scored just five points before going off because of a sore right foot, according to the official NBA match report.
Before that game, he averaged 35 minutes of playing time and about 21 points per game.
“As the NBA season tips off, his career is already benched, not for injury but for integrity,” New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch says.
Rozier’s lawyer, James Trusty, says in a statement that prosecutors “appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case”.
Trusty says he had been representing Rozier for more than a year and said prosecutors characterised Rozier as a subject, not a target, until they informed him FBI agents were arresting the player at a hotel on Thursday morning.
Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested as part of the investigation.
Jones is said to have been involved in two of the identified games – when the Los Angeles Lakers met the Milwaukee Bucks in February 2023, and a January 2024 game between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Sport betting was outlawed in most of the US from 1992 until 2018, when the Supreme Court turned regulation of the practice over to the states.
Since the federal ban was struck down, sport betting has exploded with major sport leagues and media companies making deals with gambling firms to get in on the billion-dollar industry.
RIGGED POKER GAMES AND THE MAFIA
The second indictment announced on Thursday involves 31 defendants alleged to have participated in a scheme to rig illegal poker games and steal millions of dollars.
The case involved 13 members and associates of the Bonanno, Genovese and Gambino crime families in New York.
Nocella Jr says the targeted victims were lured to play games with former professional athletes, including Billups and Jones in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and the Hamptons.
Victims were “fleeced” out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game, he says.
He says defendants used “very sophisticated technology” like altered off-the-shelf shuffling machines that could read the cards. Some of the defendants used special contact lenses and glasses to read marked cards, and an X-ray table that could read cards when they were face-down.
“What [the victims] didn’t know is that everybody else at the poker game – from the dealer to the players were in on the scam,” Nocella Jr says.
Tisch says when people refused to pay, the organised crime families used threats and intimidation to get them to hand over the money.
The charges include robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling.
The conspiracy cheated victims out of US$7 million (about N$121 million), with one losing US$1.8 million (about N$31.2 million), officials say.
“This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Christopher Raia, the FBI assistant director of the New York field office, says, adding that the FBI was working hard to ensure members of mafia families “cannot continue to wreak havoc in our communities”.
–BBC
In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.
The Namibian uses AI tools to assist with improved quality, accuracy and efficiency, while maintaining editorial oversight and journalistic integrity.
Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!
