More than 30 people have been charged in connection with two separate but related federal gambling investigations that involved the NBA, the US’ top basketball league, and organized crime, US authorities said on Thursday.
Among those arrested are Chauncy Billups, 49, a member of the league’s Hall of Fame and the head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, as well as 31-year-old Terry Rozier, who plays for the Miami Heat.
What else do we know about the gambling probe?
According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the schemes involved tens of millions of dollars in illicit gains from wire fraud, money laundering, extortion and gambling.
He said one of the investigations involves insider sports betting, while the second one involves the rigging of poker games across the US.
“The fraud is mind boggling,” Patel said. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.”
Patel said that the fraud was backed by the La Cosa Nostra crime families.
Authorities said Rozier was one of NBA insiders who provided non-public information about how they would perform to criminal partners, who then used other bettors to use the information given to them to make gains based on the tips received.
In one case, which took place in March 2023, Rozier told his contacts that he would leave a game early, supposedly due to an injury, which resulted in them placing bets on the player not reaching his expected statistics, according to officials.
Suspected poker games center of second probe
The second investigation, involving Billups, revolves around the rigging of poker games, with the players being promised they would play against celebrities. Sophisticated technology was used, including fraudulent card shufflers and x-ray tables.
Some defendants were charged in both cases, according to Brooklyn US Attorney Joseph Nocella, including former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones.
Several New York-based crime families were involved, prosecutors said.
While the NBA, the Heat and the Blazers did not immediately answer requests for comment, Rozier’s lawyer James Trusty accused the authorities of “taking the world of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on evidence,” adding that his client had been cleared by the NBA.
“These prosecutors revived that non-case,” Trusty said.
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Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
