E-Paper
NBA stars Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier among dozens arrested in FBI's illegal gambling probe
FBI director Kash Patel said the cases include allegations of wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, and unlawful gambling.
Chauncey Billups, NBA Hall of Famer and head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and Terry Rozier, guard for the Miami Heat, are reportedly among more than 30 individuals charged Thursday in connection with two federal gambling investigations linked to organized crime and professional basketball.
Authorities said one scheme involved insider sports betting, while the other rigged poker games nationwide. Both operations spanned several years and generated tens of millions of dollars in illegal profits, reported Reuters.
At a press briefing in Brooklyn, FBI director Kash Patel said the cases include allegations of wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, and unlawful gambling.
How the gambling schemes worked
Shedding light on how the alleged scheme worked, the US authorities said that Terry Rozier was among several NBA insiders who shared non-public information about their expected performance with criminal associates, who then used straw bettors to place multiple wagers based on the tips.
In one instance in March 2023, Rozier reportedly informed associates that he would leave a game early with a supposed injury, enabling them to profit when he did not meet his projected statistics, officials said. “This is the insider trading saga for the NBA,” Patel added.
Meanwhile, 49-year-old, Chauncey Billups was charged in a separate case with helping to rig poker games to defraud unsuspecting players who were lured with the promise of playing against celebrities, officials said.
The scheme involved sophisticated technology, including fraudulent card shufflers and x-ray tables. The officials said that several organized crime families in New York would also take a cut of the profits, used extortion and robbery to collect unpaid debts, and laundered proceeds through cryptocurrency and other methods.
Defending Rozier, his lawyer, James Trusty, said prosecutors “appear to be taking the word of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case,” reported Reuters.
Players' background
The 31-year-old, Rozier, is in his 11th NBA season and has averaged 13.9 points per game in his career. He had drawn scrutiny for a March 2023 game after several online sportsbooks flagged an unusual number of bets that he would go under his projected stats. Rozier left the game after nine minutes, citing an injury.
He was arrested in Orlando, Florida, where the Heat faced the Magic on Wednesday night, and was expected to appear in court there Thursday afternoon.
On the other hand, Billups is in his fifth year as Portland’s head coach. He played for seven NBA teams, winning a championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004, when he was named Finals MVP. He was expected to make an initial court appearance later Thursday in Portland.
The charges come amid broader concerns about gambling in North American professional sports. Several players in the “Big Four” men’s leagues—the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL—have faced penalties in recent years.
Former NBA player Jontay Porter was banned for life and pleaded guilty in 2024 after being accused of manipulating his performance to help associates win wagers, a case linked to Thursday’s indictments.
(With Reuters inputs)
