Multiple NBA players and coaches have been charged in various sports gambling scandals, allegedly involving elaborate rigging schemes, extortion and high-tech gadgets used to fix poker games.
Among those arrested are Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, the Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones, who were charged as part of two investigations — one involving illegal sports betting and another involving poker-rigging plots reportedly backed by the Mafia.
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups walks to a vehicle after his federal court appearance on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
AP Photo/Jenny Kane
In the first case, prosecutors accused six defendants of participating in wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies using inside information from NBA players and coaches to profit from illegal betting.
Story continues below advertisement
Eric Earnest, Marves Fairley, Vezino Locks, Shane Hennen, Deniro Laster, Jones and Rozier will be arraigned in New York City in that case.
American lawyer Joseph Nocella described the scheme as a “sophisticated conspiracy” involving athletes, coaches and others who “exploited confidential information for profit.”
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
The second FBI-led sweep resulted in 31 arrests in 11 states, including members and associates of La Cosa Nostra, the bureau said in a statement on Thursday, adding that it had laid charges of wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery and illegal gambling.
More on World
More videos
That indictment alleges that members of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families puppeteered far-reaching scams with the help of professional NBA players and coaches to cheat victims out of millions of dollars.
“Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as ‘Face Cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contact lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big,” Nocella said in the indictment.
The winnings were allegedly funnelled back to the Mafia families to enrich their criminal networks, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
While the indictment likened the operation to a “Hollywood movie,” noting big-money stakes, famous faces, high-tech devices and notorious crime families, it also underscored its severity.
Story continues below advertisement
“This was not luck, and it was not theatrics,” HSI New York special agent in charge Ricky J. Patel said.
“Over four years ago, HSI New York uncovered the operation and worked tirelessly with HSI Newark, the FBI, the New York Waterfront Commission, and the NYPD to expose crimes that defrauded victims of at least $7 million and included violent robberies.
Trending Now
Trump says he’s ending trade talks with Canada over TV ads
Our guide to 2025 decor trends you’ll be seeing everywhere this Christmas
“I commend all agencies and personnel involved in today’s sweeping arrests, which should serve as a testament to our relentless, evidence-driven and unified effort.”
The FBI alleges the defendants had been organizing a series of illegal poker games since 2019, where they used wireless technology to rig games of Texas Hold ‘Em.
NBA players were planted as “Face Cards” to entice unwitting victims to play against cheating teams, who worked in tandem to defraud the victims and launder the winnings. Multiple Mafia families allegedly co-operated, splitting the profits.
As part of the schemes, some of the charged defendants and other co-conspirators also committed acts of violence, including robbery and extortion, the indictment alleges.
How the scam worked
Rigged shuffling machines that allegedly read all the cards in the deck enabled scammers to determine which players would receive which cards based on the standard poker rules, which have a set dealing order.
Story continues below advertisement
The order of the deck was transmitted to an off-site conspirator, who then transmitted it via cellphone back to a member of the conspiracy playing at the table.
The conspirator, usually through pre-arranged signals such as touching certain chips or items on the table, would then communicate the deck order to the rest of the co-conspirators at the table, who would use the information to win the game.
Cheating teams also used poker chip trays that secretly read cards using hidden cameras, X-ray tables that can read cards face down on the table, and special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards.
Prosecutors, in their detention memo, asked a judge to detain Mafia members implicated in the case, as well as the ringleaders of the poker scheme. Prosecutors are arguing for releasing Billups and Jones but with “substantial bail conditions,” including a prohibition on any form of gambling and travel restrictions.
— With files from The Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.