An NBA player and coach are among dozens of people arrested in a wide-ranging FBI investigation into illegal sports betting and allegedly rigged poker games with ties to the mob, the BBC writes.
Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were named by federal prosecutors in two separate indictments on Thursday.
Rozier, 31, is among six people arrested for alleged betting irregularities. These include NBA players accused of faking injuries to influence gambling markets.
Billups, a Hall of Fame player who coaches the 2021 Portland Trail Blazers, is one of 31 people charged in a separate case of illegal poker games involving retired players and mobsters.
That case exposed an alleged scheme to lure victims into playing rigged poker games alongside big-name sports stars before stealing millions of dollars from them.
According to authorities, they did this using technology such as special contact lenses and glasses that could read pre-marked books.
In a statement, the NBA said Rozier and Billups have been placed on leave immediately while the federal charges are reviewed.
“We treat these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the statement read.
Rozier's lawyer denied the allegations to CBS News, the BBC's US news partner, saying: “Terry is not a player to be involved in anything like this, he is not afraid of a fight and he is looking forward to winning this fight.”
He appeared in federal court in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday and was released on bail after posting his Florida home — valued at $6 million — as collateral, according to local media.
Billups was arrested in Portland, Ore., and arraigned Thursday, according to local media. He is also expected to post substantial bail for his release.
FBI Director Kash Patel held a press conference with other prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday to announce the two indictments. He called the arrests “extraordinary” and said there was “coordination in 11 states”.
“We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud, theft and robbery over the course of an investigation that spanned several years,” he said.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., declared all defendants innocent until proven guilty, but warned: “Your streak is over. Your luck is over.”
NBA games under surveillance
Prosecutors said the first case involved players and associates who allegedly used information that was not publicly available to manipulate bets on major gambling platforms.
Nocella called it “one of the most daring sports corruption schemes since online sports betting was widely legalized.”
Seven NBA games between February 2023 and March 2024 were identified as part of the case. Rozier is said to have been involved with either the Charlotte Hornets or the New Orleans Pelicans during his time with the Hornets.
Rozier allegedly told a friend he was leaving the game early due to an injury. The friend and his associates then placed bets or directed others to bet “over $200,000” that Rozier would walk off the field, prosecutors said.
He left the game after nine minutes, they said, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in betting profits for those involved.
During the game, Rozier played about nine minutes and scored just five points because of a sore right leg, according to the NBA's official game report.
Before that game, he was averaging 35 minutes and scoring about 21 points per game.
“When the NBA season starts, he will be on the bench, not because of injuries, but because of his integrity,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.
Rozier's attorney, James Trusty, said in a statement that prosecutors “appear to be relying on information from unbelievable sources instead of hard evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was acquitted by the NBA and these prosecutors have reopened that baseless case.”
Trusty said he has been representing Rozier for more than a year and said prosecutors informed him that FBI agents were arresting the player Thursday morning.
Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested in the investigation.
Jones is said to have been involved in two of the game-fixing games — when the Los Angeles Lakers met the Milwaukee Bucks in February 2023 and a January 2024 game between the Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Sports betting was banned in most of the United States from 1992 until 2018, when the Supreme Court turned regulation of the practice over to the states.
Since the federal ban was lifted, sports betting has exploded, with major sports leagues and media companies striking deals with gambling firms to tap into the billion-dollar industry.
Rigged poker games and mobsters
The second indictment announced Thursday concerns 31 defendants who are 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 mob families in New York.
Nocella said the targeted victims were lured into playing games with former professional athletes, including Billups and Jones, in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and the Hamptons.
Victims were “lightened” by tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per match, he said.
He said the defendants used “very sophisticated technology” such as modified, off-the-shelf card shufflers that could read the cards. Some of the defendants used contact lenses and special glasses to read pre-marked books and an X-ray table that could read the books face down.
“What [victimele] what they didn't know is that everyone else in the game of poker — from the dealer to the players — was in on the scam,” Nocella said.
Tisch said that when people refused to pay, organized crime families used threats and intimidation to get them to pay.
Charges include robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling.
Officials said the conspiracy defrauded victims out of $7m (£5.2m), with one of them losing $1.8m.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Christopher Raia, deputy director of the FBI's New York office, adding that the FBI is working around the clock to ensure members of mob families “cannot continue to wreak havoc in our communities.”
