NEW YORK\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Federal prosecutors unsealed two indictments Thursday outlining an illegal betting scheme that has rocked the NBA and named current and former players, including former Clippers player and current Portland head coach Chauncey Billups, in one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors are accusing the Miami Heat\u2019s Terry Rozier and Damon Jones, a retired NBA player and friend of LeBron James, of using private insider NBA information, such as when players would sit out, to help others profit in leveraged bets online.<\/p>\n
In a separate indictment from the East District of New York, Billups, who played with the Clippers for two seasons and later was a member of Clippers coach Ty Lue\u2019s staff before earning the Trail Blazers head coaching job, is charged with rigging underground poker games that three of New York\u2019s Mafia families backed, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Rozier and Billups have been put on immediate leave by the NBA, the league announced Thursday. Billups\u2019 attorney, in a statement Thursday night, strongly denied the allegations against his client.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,\u201d a league statement said.<\/p>\n
At a news conference flanked by FBI Director Kash Patel, U.S. Atty. Joseph Nocella Jr. said the scheme involved exploiting information about the National Basketball Assn., athletes and teams and covered games with the Toronto Raptors, Lakers, Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers.<\/p>\n
Although each indictment unsealed Thursday is a separate case, they have overlapping defendants including Jones, who played 11 seasons in the league, Nocella said. Federal prosecutors allege that between December 2022 and March 2024, the defendants, including Jones, used inside information to defraud bettors, including which players would be sitting out games and when players would \u201cpull themselves out of games early for purported injuries or illnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jones played more than 200 games with James over three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2008 and served as an assistant coach during the Lakers\u2019 star second spell in Cleveland. In one of the indictments, prosecutors allege Jones was an unofficial coach with the Lakers from 2022 to 2023 when he used inside information for sports betting related to the Lakers and specifically \u201cPlayer 3,\u201d a prominent NBA player.<\/p>\n
Although the indictment does not name the player \u2014 the date referenced in 2023 when the player sat out matches when James sat out against the Milwaukee Bucks due to ankle soreness. According to the indictment, Jones, a friend of James, profited from the non-public information.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out!\u201d Jones texted an unnamed co-conspirator, according to the indictment. \u201c[Player 3] is out tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Thursday, the Lakers declined to comment on the investigation. A person close to LeBron James told The Times that the Lakers star didn\u2019t know that Jones was allegedly selling injury information to gamblers placing bets.<\/p>\n
Not all of Jones\u2019 information paid off, however, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say that before a game on Jan. 15, 2024, he informed co-conspirators that another top Lakers player known as \u201cPlayer 4,\u201d who was listed as probable and was hurt, \u201cwould possibly play a limited number of minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marves Fairley, a charged co-conspirator, waged $100,000 against the Lakers for the game. The player, however, played and the Lakers won. Fairley made Jones give back $2,500 he got for the information, according to the indictment. Although the player was not identified, then-Lakers star Anthony Davis was listed as probable for the game.<\/p>\n
The indictment also accuses Rozier, who is referred to as \u201cScary Terry\u201d and \u201cChum\u201d in court documents, and several other conspirators of knowing James would leave a March 2023 game early.<\/p>\n
On March 24, 2023, an unnamed co-conspirator told Eric Earnest \u201cthe Portland Trailblazers were going to be \u2018tanking\u2019 so they could get a better NBA draft pick and a player only identified as Player 1 would not play,\u201d according to the indictment. Prosecutors say information about that player\u2019s absence was shared with other co-conspirators, who had other parties then place $32,000 in bets.<\/p>\n
The players made prop bets \u2014 a type of wager that allows gamblers to bet on whether a player will exceed a certain statistical number, such as whether the player will finish over or under a certain total of points, rebounds, assists and more, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n
Billups matches the description in the indictment of the unnamed co-conspirator in the March 24 incident, according to the years he played and coached in the NBA. The unnamed co-conspirator received no money but gave the information to one of the indicted men, who was then compensated, the indictment states. Those involved in the conspiracy bet more than $100,000 against the Trail Blazers. Some of the team\u2019s best players sat out the game, which was won by the Chicago Bulls.<\/p>\n
According to the indictment, when Rozier was playing for the Hornets, he told others he was planning to leave the game early with a \u201csupposed injury,\u201d allowing others to place wagers that raked in thousands of dollars, New York Police Commissioner Jennifer Tisch said.<\/p>\n
Rozier and other defendants allegedly provided that information to other co-conspirators in exchange for either a flat fee or a share of betting profits.<\/p>\n
Another game involving Rozier that has been in question 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 \u2014 and not only did not return that night, citing a foot issue, but also did not play again that season. Charlotte had eight games remaining and was not in playoff contention, so it did not seem particularly unusual that Rozier was shut down for the season\u2019s final games.<\/p>\n
In the March 23 game, Rozier finished with five points, four rebounds and two assists in that opening period \u2014 a productive quarter but well below his usual total output for a full game.<\/p>\n
Posts still online from March 23, 2023, show that some bettors were furious with sportsbooks that evening when it became evident that Rozier was not going to return to the Charlotte-New Orleans game after the first quarter, with many turning to social media to say that something \u201cshady\u201d had gone on regarding the prop bets involving his stats for that night.<\/p>\n
But prosecutors say he was not the only one allegedly involved.<\/p>\n
The indictment also lists nine unnamed co-conspirators, including former NBA players in Florida and Oregon, a relative or Rozier, and an individual who has been a coach in the league since 2021.<\/p>\n
The second indictment involved 31 defendants in \u201ca nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games,\u201d Nocella said. \u201cThese defendants that include former professional athletes accused of using hi-tech cheating to steal millions of dollars from victims that were secretly fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Federal prosecutors allege Jones and Billups worked with members of several Mafia crime families to set up rigged poker games in New York, luring wealthy players to the illegal games and taking millions of dollars in proceeds.<\/p>\n
The games in the New York area were backed by three of New York\u2019s organized crime families: the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese Mafia families, authorities said. According to the complaint, at least a dozen of the 31 defendants were associates or members of those three families.<\/p>\n