Poker chip trays that can secretly read cards.
Glasses that can detect card markings.
Rigged underground games run by the New York mafia.
According to the NBA, insider trading is part of illegal betting schemes.
Those are just some of the wild allegations federal prosecutors have leveled in two criminal complaints this week in one of the biggest and most sensational betting scandals in recent professional sports history.
In one case, prosecutors accused several defendants of using private NBA insider information, such as when players weren't playing, to help others profit from leveraged bets online.
But the accusations go much deeper, Iincluding connections to the Lakers, the Mafia and more.
Here are four key allegations:
1. High roller games with high-tech cheating
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, who played for the Clippers for two seasons and was then a member of Clippers coach Ty Lue's staff before landing the head coaching job with the Trail Blazers, is accused of running underground poker games that supported three New York mob families, it was reported. authorities.
Billups and Damon Jones, a former NBA player, were used to lure wealthy players to games and were called “face cards,” according to one of two indictments unsealed Thursday. But according to federal indictments, the two were part of fraudulent teams. In exchange for participating in the games, Card Faces received a portion of the winnings.
According to court documents, the teams used specially equipped card shuffling machines that read decks of cards and predicted which player at the table would have the best poker hand and relayed that information to someone called an operator. The person then passed that information on to one of the members of the rogue team at the desk, known as the “Protector” or “Driver,” according to court filings.
In some cases, cheating teams used poker chip trays that could secretly read cards on the table. In other cases, players used points that could reveal special markings on cards.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella of Brooklyn said at a news conference that the defendants used “special contact lenses or glasses that could read pre-marked cards” and tables that “could read cards laid face down on the table… thanks to X-ray technology.”
He referred to “other cheating technologies such as poker chip tray analyzers, which are a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera.”
“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows that he is an honest man; honest people do not deceive or defraud others,” Chris Haywood, Billups' attorney, said in a statement Tuesday night. “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government accuses him of doing is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom. He would not risk those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
2. Alleged Mafia Ties
The games in the New York area were supported by three New York organized crime families: the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese mafia families, authorities said. At least a dozen of the 31 defendants were associates or members of the three families, according to the complaint.
Among those named in the indictment was Joseph Lunney, known as a captain in the Gambino crime family. Lunny, known as “Joe Brooklyn,” was also named as a defendant in the case. 2023 racketextortion and witness retaliation charges in which members and associates of the Gambino family were accused of attempting to take control of New York's trucking and demolition businesses.
Lunney pleaded guilty last week to one count of racketeering conspiracy, according to court records.
3. Tip about LeBron James
Federal prosecutors allege that between December 2022 and March 2024, the defendants used inside information to defraud players, including information about which players would miss games and when players had “previously pulled out of games due to suspected injuries or illnesses.”
Damon Jones, a former NBA player and friend of LeBron James, is accused of disseminating sports betting insider information related to the Lakers and specifically “Player 3,” a prominent NBA player.
Although the player is not named in the indictment, the date is listed as 2023 when the player missed games when James sat out against the Milwaukee Bucks due to ankle soreness. According to the indictment, Jones, a friend of James, took advantage of classified information.
“Bet big on Milwaukee tonight before the word gets out!” According to the indictment, Jones wrote to an unnamed accomplice. “[Player 3] will be out this evening.”
The Lakers declined to comment Thursday on the investigation. A person close to LeBron James told The Times that the Lakers star was unaware that Jones was allegedly selling injury information to bettors. Neither James nor the Lakers have been accused of any wrongdoing.
3. “Doubtful” injury
According to the indictment, while Terry Rozier was playing for the Hornets, he told others he planned to leave the game early due to a “suspected injury,” allowing others to make bets that brought in thousands of dollars, NYPD Commissioner Jennifer Tisch said.
Rozier and the other defendants allegedly provided this information to other co-conspirators in exchange for a flat fee or a share of the betting profits.
The other game in question involving Rozier was played a day earlier, on March 23, 2023, between the Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans. Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of that game – and not only did not return that night, citing a leg problem, but he also did not play again that season.
Posts still available online from March 23, 2023, show some bettors were furious with sports betting that night when it became apparent Rozier had no intention of returning, and many took to social media to say something “shady” had happened regarding betting related to his stats that night.
