{"id":234665,"date":"2025-10-23T15:04:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234665\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T15:04:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T15:04:06","slug":"chauncey-billups-and-terry-rozier-arrested-in-federal-gambling-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/234665\/","title":{"rendered":"Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier arrested in federal gambling probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic has live coverage of the U.S. federal betting investigation<\/a> into NBA players.<\/p>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 Portland Trail Blazers\u00a0coach Chauncey Billups and\u00a0Miami Heat\u00a0guard\u00a0Terry Rozier\u00a0were arrested Thursday as part of a federal investigation into illegal betting activities, federal law enforcement officials said during a news conference in New York.<\/p>\n

Rozier, 31, was taken into custody in Orlando, where the Heat played on Wednesday night. He was accused of telling members of a betting ring that he would leave a game early, allowing them to wager on his prop bets with the knowledge that he would not rack up stats. Rozier\u2019s agent, Aaron Turner, confirmed Rozier was arrested in relation to the federal probe, but said the player planned to fight the charges, having been previously cleared by the\u00a0NBA.<\/p>\n

Billups, 49, a Hall of Fame player before he became a coach, and ex-Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones, a former NBA player, were also arrested.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said at least two cases were pending separately but with some overlap and connections. One is related to sports betting, the other is related to poker games that prosecutors say were rigged.<\/p>\n

Rozier did not play in the Heat\u2019s loss to Orlando on Wednesday because of a hamstring injury that kept him out of all of Miami\u2019s preseason games. Billups was on the sideline for the Blazers\u2019 loss to Minnesota on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Rozier and Billups will appear in federal court in Florida and Oregon later Thursday, according to the people briefed on the arrests.<\/p>\n

Rozier has been under federal investigation for possibly manipulating his performance in a 2023 NBA game as part of an illegal sports gambling operation, the NBA previously confirmed to The Athletic.<\/p>\n

Jim Trusty, Rozier\u2019s lawyer, said in a statement: \u201cWe have represented Terry Rozier for over a year. A long time ago we reached out to these prosecutors to tell them we should have an open line of communication. They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender they opted for a photo op. They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The game and performance under scrutiny took place on March 23, 2023, when Rozier was still with the Charlotte Hornets. Rozier played just nine minutes and 34 seconds in a game against the New Orleans Pelicans and scored five points. Prior to the game against the Pelicans, Rozier averaged 35.3 minutes and 21.1 points per contest that season. At the time, the reason given for Rozier leaving the game early was a sore right foot. He did not play in any of the team\u2019s eight remaining games that season.<\/p>\n

In January, the NBA said it had conducted an investigation after being notified about unusual betting activity related to Rozier\u2019s performance in that game, and \u201cdid not find a violation of NBA rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTerry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case,\u201d Trusty\u2019s statement added. \u201cTerry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Billups\u2019 name had not previously been connected to any federal investigations into gambling. Wednesday\u2019s game marked the start of his fifth season as coach of the Blazers. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 2024 following a 17-year career in which he was a five-time All-Star and the 2004 NBA Finals MVP.<\/p>\n

Jones, 49, played 11 NBA seasons and also spent years following his career as both an assistant coach and also personal shooting coach for LeBron James when James rejoined the Cavs in 2014. As a player with the Miami Heat and subsequently after his playing career was finished, Jones struggled with a gambling addiction that cost him large chunks of the millions he earned playing basketball, league sources said.<\/p>\n

Rozier is the second NBA player known to be investigated by the federal government for possibly manipulating his play as part of a sports gambling scheme. Former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in July 2024 to one felony count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Five other men have been arrested and charged as part of a federal investigation into a gambling ring that Porter is alleged to have been a part of.<\/p>\n

Porter was banned by the NBA<\/a> last April after he was caught manipulating his performance in multiple games during the 2023-24 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The NBA has multiple business arrangements with major betting brands such as DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM, and several of its teams host sportsbooks in their arenas, in which they are paid a percentage of the handle, which is the amount of money wagered.<\/p>\n

Under commissioner Adam Silver, the NBA (in conjunction with the other pro leagues) has sought a federal sports betting law from Congress, but many lobbying efforts have not gained traction.<\/p>\n

Today, sports betting is legal and regulated in 38 states plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic has live coverage of the U.S. federal betting investigation into NBA players. NEW YORK \u2014 Portland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[6703,1222,6996,49,48,11002,5184,2357,2695,2898,8028,8217,8223,2697,1527,8231,15718,8224,8216,14102,459,8214,2901,3555,15716,1528,6002,6683,10679,2696,82,10676,15717,8027],"class_list":["post-234665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-boston-celtics","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-detroit-pistons","tag-golden-state-warriors","tag-houston-rockets","tag-indiana-pacers","tag-los-angeles-clippers","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-memphis-grizzlies","tag-miami-heat","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-minnesota-timberwolves","tag-nba","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-new-york-knicks","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-orlando-magic","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-portland-trail-blazers","tag-sacramento-kings","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-sports","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-utah-jazz","tag-washington-wizards"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}