As federal prosecutors continue to investigate possible illegal sports gambling on NBA games, they are looking into additional games beyond the seven contests named in a Department of Justice indictment this fall.
Lawyers for the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York have indicated that they are examining more games that may have been tainted as part of the scheme that allegedly ensnared Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter. Rozier was charged this October for what prosecutors said was a role in a sprawling insider information trading ring that allowed sports gamblers to place wagers on NBA games with non-public information.
Rozier was one of six men charged in the indictment. He is alleged to have told a friend that he would come out early in a March 2023 game when he was still with the Charlotte Hornets. According to the indictment, that friend then sold that information to bettors, who then placed wagers on prop bets on his points, rebounds, assists and 3s. Rozier and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Porter, who was implicated for taking himself out early from two Raptors games during the 2023-24 season, was charged and pleaded guilty in July 2024 and is awaiting sentencing. He was banned from the NBA two years ago. Four other men were arrested for helping to plan the scheme and betting on his performances in Raptors games, and three have pleaded guilty.
One of those men, Timothy McCormack, was sentenced to two years in federal prison last week for his part in the scheme to bet on both the games involving Porter and Rozier. He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after he personally placed bets on those games. Lawyers for the Eastern District said that their investigation is ongoing and that he was involved in other games that have not been made public yet.
“The government has ongoing investigations,” David Berman, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, said in court last week. “And our understanding is the defendant has conducted himself in similar manners in other instances as well.”
It is not known how many games are being investigated, or if there are other NBA players who may be implicated.
“We continue to assist the relevant authorities in their investigation as well as work with federal and state regulators on appropriate limitations on the types of bets placed on NBA games,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “The integrity of our game remains our highest priority.”
Prosecutors said in a legal filing in November that McCormack, as part of a ring of gamblers, bet thousands of dollars on NBA games that included the March 23, 2023, Hornets-Pelicans game, the Jan. 26, 2024, Clippers-Raptors game and the March 20, 2024, Kings-Raptors game, “among others that the government continues to investigate.”
Former Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks guard Malik Beasley is still under federal investigation for possible illegal sports gambling. He lost out on a $42 million contract this summer when the Pistons, and the rest of the league, found out that he was under federal scrutiny. Beasley, a free agent, has not signed with an NBA team or played this season.
“To my understanding, he’s still under federal investigation but there’s been no recent direction on what terms they’re looking at him,” Beasley’s attorney Steve Haney told The Athletic. “At this point Malik is stuck in this investigative purgatory and unable to continue his career despite the fact that he’s been under investigation for over a year.”
Thirty-four people were arrested and charged in October as a result of the years-long federal investigation into illegal betting. Federal prosecutors said that, alongside the NBA sports gambling case, they had also uncovered a rigged poker ring that allegedly used famous former athletes to lure in victims, operating in conjunction with the mafia in New York.
Chauncey Billups was among the 31 people charged as part of that indictment. The Hall of Famer and former Portland Trail Blazers head coach was alleged to be one of the ex-athletes used as bait. He has pleaded not guilty.
Some of the same men involved in the NBA case were also indicted earlier this month in what federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania say was a college basketball point-shaving ring. Marves Fairley has been indicted in both the NBA and college basketball cases. Shane Hennen was allegedly involved in each of the four cases federal prosecutors have brought so far. Both have pleaded not guilty. Antonio Blakeney, a former LSU star and NBA player, was also charged in the college basketball case, though a year earlier than anyone else.
Federal prosecutors for Pennsylvania’s Eastern District said that the college basketball ring recruited at least 39 players across 17 schools to help them try to win wagers on 29 Division I basketball games.