NEW YORK (BN24) — The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday along with more than thirty other people in two criminal cases alleging sprawling separate schemes to rake in millions by rigging sports bets and poker games involving Mafia families, authorities said.
Portland coach Chauncey Billups was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and the Hamptons that were backed by La Cosa Nostra crime families. Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused of a second scheme to concoct fraudulent bets by exploiting confidential information about NBA athletes and teams. Also arrested was former NBA assistant coach and player Damon Jones, who is charged with participating in both schemes.
The indictments unsealed in New York create a massive cloud for the NBA, which opened its season this week, and show how certain types of wagers are vulnerable to massive fraud in the growing, multibillion-dollar legal sports betting industry.
Both Billups and Rozier face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. Rozier made an initial court appearance Thursday where a federal magistrate judge said he could be released from custody by putting up his Florida home as bond and surrendering his passport.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Norway also restricted Rozier’s travel to the continental United States and prohibited him from gambling as conditions for his release. Federal prosecutors had asked for a ten million dollar bond but Rozier’s attorney said that was excessive given that the NBA star had no prior record.
“I think it’s Draconian,” said Jim Trusty, Rozier’s attorney. “He is a man of high character.”
In court, Rozier wore a black Charlotte Hornets sweatshirt with green lettering and was shackled and handcuffed. He did not speak much except when answering basic questions from the judge.
Rozier is facing two counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Hu. Each count carries no more than twenty years in prison.
Trusty described what he said was “chicanery” of prosecutors and federal agents. The defense attorney said he got a predawn call saying that federal agents were downstairs at Rozier’s hotel in downtown Orlando and that the attorney should call his client to tell him to go downstairs. Within minutes, federal agents were at the door to Rozier’s hotel room, Trusty told the judge.
“It has had a damaging effect on his career,” Trusty said.
Another condition of Rozier’s release is that he can have no contact with any others named in the indictment, as well as any listed individuals the government provides.
The six defendants in the sports betting indictment include former NBA player and coach Damon Jones, current NBA player Terry Rozier and one of Rozier’s close friends. Two of the defendants portrayed themselves on Instagram as successful sports bettors and sold sports betting picks through their profiles, according to the indictment.
Jones is also a defendant in the rigged poker game indictment, as is Portland Trail Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups.
The thirty-one defendants named in the second indictment include twelve people who are identified as either members or associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese or Lucchese crime families.
The indictments contain the description of several unnamed NBA players whose injury status and availability for certain games were the source of betting activity. Those players are not accused of any wrongdoing and there is no indication that they would have even known what was being said about their status for those games.
Those players include LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Damian Lillard. Their identities are clear based on a review of corresponding injury reports surrounding games mentioned in the indictment.
The indictments show that certain defendants shared information about the availability of those players in games on March 24, 2023, involving the Portland Trail Blazers, and two in 2023 and 2024 involving the Los Angeles Lakers.
For the Portland game, defendant Eric Earnest, investigators said, was given information that a player who had been listed as probable and then questionable to play that day would not play at all. Those details perfectly match how Lillard was listed on injury reports that day.
Similar patterns were found with Lakers games involving James and Davis, with Jones alleged to have shared their injury information before it was publicly known. In one of the cases, investigators said, Jones got the details wrong and caused some bettors who placed large wagers to lose.
Federal prosecutors asked a judge to detain thirteen defendants pending trial, including six reputed crime family members, and to not release other defendants unless they post substantial bonds.
“The Court should consider that each of those defendants has taken a lifetime oath to commit crimes and put their crime families above all else,” prosecutors said about the alleged mob associates in a court filing. “Those crime families have a long history of committing crimes, including obstruction of justice.”
Court documents also describe a violent encounter in 2023 at a poker game in Manhattan run by a Gambino crime family associate. Two members of rival crime families that had a poker game in another location on the same night busted into the Gambino associate’s game armed with a gun and baton, sparked a brawl and assaulted the Gambino member, the documents say.
Court documents say proceeds from the rigged card games were laundered through shell companies and cryptocurrency.
The cases represent one of the most significant prosecutions involving professional sports and organized crime in recent years. The involvement of high-profile NBA figures has sent shockwaves through professional basketball and raised questions about security protocols regarding confidential injury information.
The NBA has not yet commented on the arrests or whether it will take any action against the teams or individuals involved. The league has strict policies regarding gambling and the sharing of confidential information that could be used for betting purposes.
The timing of the arrests, coming just as the NBA season opened, creates significant complications for both the Trail Blazers and Heat organizations. It remains unclear whether Billups will continue in his coaching role or whether the team will place him on administrative leave pending resolution of the criminal charges.
The indictments highlight vulnerabilities in the rapidly expanding legal sports betting industry, where insider information about player availability can provide significant advantages to bettors. Sports leagues and betting operators have implemented various safeguards to detect unusual betting patterns, but the cases suggest those measures may be insufficient to prevent sophisticated schemes.
The alleged Mafia involvement adds another layer of complexity to the cases. Prosecutors detailed how organized crime families used their traditional operations in illegal gambling to exploit opportunities in the emerging legal sports betting market.
The investigation involved multiple federal agencies and represents years of work tracking financial transactions, communications and betting patterns. Authorities said the schemes involved millions of dollars in fraudulent wagers and laundered proceeds.
Legal experts said the cases could set precedents for how federal prosecutors approach fraud in the sports betting industry, particularly regarding the use of confidential information and the involvement of sports insiders.
