NBA stars and mafia among dozens arrested in illegal gambling crackdown

An NBA player and coach are among dozens of people arrested as part of a massive FBI investigation into illegal sports betting and allegedly rigged poker games linked to the mob.

Miami Heat player Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were named by federal prosecutors in two separate indictments Thursday. Both men deny the charges.

Rozier, 31, is among six people arrested on suspicion of betting offences. They include NBA players accused of faking injuries to influence gambling markets.

Billups, a Hall of Fame player turned coach, is one of 31 people charged in a separate case of illegal poker games involving retired players and the mob.

The case, which prosecutors say involved four New York's five major crime familieshas uncovered an alleged scheme to lure victims into playing fraudulent poker games with famous sports stars before stealing millions of dollars.

They did this using technology, including special contact lenses and glasses that could read pre-labeled maps, as well as an X-ray table, authorities said.

The NBA said in a statement that Rozier and Billups were placed on leave immediately as the NBA reviews federal charges.

“We take these allegations seriously and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the statement said.

Rosier's lawyer denied the allegations to CBS News, the BBC's American partner, saying: “Terry is not a player, but he is not afraid of a fight and hopes to win this fight.”

He appeared in federal court in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday and was released on bail after posting his $6 million (£4.5 million) Florida home as collateral, according to local media.

Billups, who has coached the Portland Trail Blazers since 2021, was arrested in Portland, Oregon and appeared in court on Thursday, according to local media. He is also expected to post a substantial bond for his release.

His lawyer Chris Haywood also denied the allegations, telling CBS in a statement: “He will fight these charges with the same tenacity that has marked his 28-year career. We look forward to our day in court.”

FBI Director Cash Patel held a news conference Thursday with other prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, to announce the two indictments.

He called the arrests “extraordinary” and said there was a “coordinated arrest across 11 states.”

“We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud, theft and robbery over a multi-year investigation,” he said.

Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said all defendants are innocent until proven guilty, but warned: “Your winning streak is over. Your luck has run out.”

Prosecutors said the first case involved gamblers and their associates who allegedly used information not available to the public to manipulate bets on major gaming platforms.

Nocella called it “one of the most brazen schemes of corruption in sports since online sports betting became widely legalized.”

The case identified seven NBA games that took place between February 2023 and March 2024. Rozier is said to have been involved in a game between the Charlotte Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans when he played for the Hornets.

Rozier allegedly told a friend he would leave the game early due to injury. The friend and his associates then placed bets or invited others to bet “more than $200,000” that Rozier would not live up to expectations in the game, prosecutors said.

They said he left the game after nine minutes, leaving participants with tens of thousands of dollars in betting profits.

According to the NBA's official game report, Rozier scored just five points during the game before leaving the field due to soreness in his right leg.

Prior to this game, he was averaging 35 minutes of playing time and about 21 points per game.

“By the end of the NBA season, his career is on hold, not because of injury, but because of integrity,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Rozier's lawyer, James Trusty, said in a statement that prosecutors “appear to be taking the word of extremely unreliable sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. The NBA cleared Terry and these prosecutors have reopened this baseless case.”

Mr. Trusty said he represented Rozier for more than a year and said prosecutors characterized Rozier as a subject, not a target, until they told him that FBI agents had arrested the player at a hotel Thursday morning.

Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested as part of the investigation.

Jones reportedly played in two of the games identified – when the Los Angeles Lakers faced the Milwaukee Bucks in February 2023, and in a January 2024 game between the Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Sports betting was outlawed in much of the United States from 1992 until 2018, when the Supreme Court handed regulation of the practice to the states.

Since the federal ban was lifted, sports betting has skyrocketed, with major sports leagues and media companies striking deals with gambling firms to enter the billion-dollar industry.

The second indictment announced Thursday involves 31 defendants allegedly involved in the scheme for organizing illegal poker games and steal millions of dollars.

The case involved 13 members and associates of the Bonanno, Genovese and Gambino crime families in New York.

Nocella said the victims were lured to play games with former professional athletes, including Billups and Jones, in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and the Hamptons.

According to him, victims were “billed” of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.

He said the defendants used “very sophisticated technology,” such as modified off-the-shelf card shuffling machines that could read cards. Some of the defendants used special contact lenses and glasses to read marked cards, as well as an X-ray table that could read cards face down.

“What [the victims] I didn’t know that everyone else in the poker game, from the dealer to the players, was involved in cheating,” Nocella said.

Tisch said that when people refused to pay, organized crime families used threats and intimidation to force them to hand over the money.

The charges include robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud and illegal gambling.

The plot left victims out of $7 million, with one victim losing $1.8 million, officials said.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Christopher Raia, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field office, adding that the FBI is working hard to ensure that members of mob families “cannot continue to wreak havoc in our communities.”