Portland Path Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups is amongst these charged in an unlawful poker operation tied to the Mafia, whereas Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier is amongst a number of individuals charged in a separate however associated unlawful playing case, authorities introduced on Thursday.
Each have instantly been positioned on go away by their groups, the NBA mentioned.
“We’re within the means of reviewing the federal indictments introduced as we speak,” the NBA mentioned in an announcement. “Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups are being positioned on fast go away from their groups, and we’ll proceed to cooperate with the related authorities. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our recreation stays our high precedence.”
Portland Path Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups reacts through the second half of an NBA basketball recreation towards the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
Jenny Kane/AP
The poker video games, which included basketball gamers to lend credibility to their authenticity, had been allegedly rigged in favor of these operating the video games, utilizing superior know-how, resembling rigged shuffling machines and even X-ray know-how to learn playing cards dealing with down on the desk, U.S. Lawyer Joseph Nocella Jr. mentioned.
Video games had been organized starting in 2019 within the Hamptons, Manhattan, Las Vegas and Miami, officers mentioned. The income from the alleged poker scheme ran as much as $7 million “and counting,” officers mentioned. The investigation occurred throughout two years, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch mentioned.
When victims, a few of whom misplaced tens of millions, refused to pay, the mob defendants resorted to violence, the NYPD mentioned.
“The fraud is mindboggling,” FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned at a information convention in Brooklyn saying the costs. “We’re speaking about tens of tens of millions of {dollars} in theft, in fraud, in theft.”
Billups coached the Path Blazers of their season opener on Wednesday night time, a loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Billups was additionally a Corridor of Fame participant, largely for the Detroit Pistons, earlier than retiring in 2014. He was a five-time All-Star in his 17 years within the NBA and led the Pistons to the NBA title in 2004, being named Finals MVP.
Christopher Raia, assistant director accountable for the FBI’s New York Area Workplace, referred to as it a “large, nationwide takedown” of 34 defendants in reference to two separate sports activities betting and unlawful poker schemes.
Among the many defendants are present and former NBA coaches and gamers, authorities mentioned, in addition to 13 Mafia members and associates from the Bonano, Gambino and Genovese crime households.
Authorities described it as a “sprawling felony enterprise” to “dupe unsuspecting gamblers.”
In the meantime, in what officers described as an “overlapping” case tied to prop betting on NBA video games, Rozier and former Cleveland Cavaliers participant and assistant coach Damon Jones have been arrested.
Rozier and Jones allegedly handed inside data to 4 co-defendants, who’re accused of passing the data to a community of sports activities bettors, sources mentioned. These bettors allegedly positioned wagers with on-line sports activities books or retail betting retailers, which prohibit betting primarily based on nonpublic data.
Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier drives to the basket as Memphis Grizzlies guard Javon Small defends through the second half of an NBA preseason basketball recreation Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Miami.
Marta Lavandier/AP
The indictment included an instance from March 23, 2023, when Rozier — then taking part in for the Charlotte Hornets — allegedly tipped off a co-defendant that he deliberate to depart the sport early with a purported harm, sources mentioned. He left the sport 9 minutes in. A co-defendant and others allegedly positioned $200,000 in wagers, betting Rozier would underperform his statistics.
“A very long time in the past we reached out to those prosecutors to inform them we should always have an open line of communication,” Rozier’s lawyer, James Trusty, mentioned in an announcement. “They characterised Terry as a topic, not a goal, however at 6 a.m. this morning they referred to as to inform me FBI brokers had been making an attempt to arrest him in a lodge.”
He continued, “They seem like taking the phrase of spectacularly in-credible sources slightly than counting on precise proof of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry will not be a gambler, however he isn’t afraid of a struggle, and he appears to be like ahead to successful this struggle.”
FBI Director Kash Patel leads information convention to announce arrests tied to unlawful sports activities betting and poker recreation schemes, in New York Metropolis on October 23, 2025.
Angela Weiss/AFP through Getty Pictures
Rozier is in his eleventh yr within the NBA. He is appeared in 665 video games and has averaged 13.9 factors per recreation over 665 video games performed. He was a key contributor for the Boston Celtics on playoff runs in 2016-19 earlier than becoming a member of the Hornets.
His workforce opened the 2025 season Wednesday night time in Orlando, however Rozier didn’t play as he offers with a hamstring harm.
Jones, in the meantime, used an ad-hoc affiliation with the Los Angeles Lakers to acquire nonpublic medical details about sure gamers that prosecutors mentioned he offered to co-defendants so they might make bets.
On Feb. 9, 2023, when the Lakers performed the Bucks, Jones allegedly despatched a textual content message to a co-conspirator saying, “Get a giant wager on Milwaukee tonight earlier than the data is out! [Player 3] is out tonight. Wager sufficient so Djones can eat.” The outstanding participant in query didn’t play and the Lakers went on to lose.
New York Assistant Director in Cost Christopher Raia speaks at a information convention saying quite a few arrests in unlawful sports activities betting and poker recreation schemes on the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York.
Angelina Katsanis/AP
Jones was a job participant for a number of groups over 11 years within the NBA, most notably on the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers’ championship workforce.
Tisch dubbed this investigation “Nothing However Wager” and took specific intention at Rozier’s alleged participation.
“Because the NBA season suggestions off, his profession is already benched, not for harm however for integrity,” Tisch mentioned.
The NBA cooperated with the investigation, prosecutors mentioned.
