Federal authorities have arrested Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in connection with a far-reaching criminal investigation that uncovered Mafia-backed poker games and insider-driven sports betting schemes across multiple states. Officials said Thursday that the two NBA figures were among 34 individuals indicted in the sweeping probe that has shaken the professional basketball world just as the league’s new season began.
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr., who oversees the Eastern District of New York, called the cases “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”
“My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended,” Nocella said, according to the Associated Press. “Your luck has run out.”
NBA Figures Accused in Parallel Gambling and Poker Schemes
According to court documents, the federal probe uncovered two distinct but overlapping criminal operations. One focused on underground poker games rigged through high-tech cheating tools and backed by four notorious Mafia families—the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, and Lucchese organizations. The other involved NBA insiders who allegedly profited from sharing confidential player information to influence sports bets.
Billups, a former NBA star inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024, is accused of playing a central role in the Mafia-linked poker conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that he and former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones used their celebrity status to lure participants into fraudulent games in Las Vegas, New York, and Miami. The games, officials said, used “sophisticated cheating technologies,” including marked cards, rigged shuffling machines, hidden cameras, and even X-ray tables capable of reading cards.
Victims reportedly lost at least $7 million since 2019, with one gambler alone losing nearly $1.8 million. “Victims believed that they were sitting at a fair table,” said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “Instead, they were cheated out of millions.”
Federal prosecutors say that portions of the poker profits were funneled to the Mafia families, who enforced repayment through violence, extortion, and intimidation.
Terry Rozier Implicated in Insider Betting Scandal
In a separate indictment, Rozier is accused of participating in an insider-betting network that used nonpublic information about NBA players to influence wagers. The scheme allegedly involved seven NBA games between March 2023 and March 2024, including contests featuring the Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors, and Portland Trail Blazers.
Prosecutors claim Rozier told longtime friend Deniro Laster that he intended to leave a March 23, 2023, game between the Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans early with a fabricated injury. Rozier played less than ten minutes before exiting, which allowed conspirators to win “tens of thousands of dollars” on prop bets that depended on his performance falling short of projected statistics.
According to the indictment, Laster sold this information to two bettors for approximately $100,000, who then placed winning wagers. Rozier allegedly helped collect and count the proceeds.
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, maintained his client’s innocence, stating, “He is not a gambler and looks forward to winning this fight.” Trusty criticized the FBI for what he called a “photo op” arrest, adding that agents had previously indicated Rozier was not a target of the investigation.
Links to Prior NBA Betting Scandal
The ongoing federal cases appear to build on the earlier investigation that led to the permanent NBA ban of former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter, who admitted in 2024 to manipulating his own games to pay off gambling debts. Some of the same individuals involved in Porter’s case—such as Ammar Awawdeh and Shane Hennen—were also named in the new poker indictment unsealed Thursday.
In one episode detailed by prosecutors, Damon Jones allegedly texted an associate before a February 2023 Lakers game advising them to “get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight” after learning LeBron James would not play. James himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing and was reportedly unaware of any gambling activity by Jones.
A separate portion of the indictment describes a co-conspirator who told bettors that several Trail Blazers starters would miss a March 2023 game, a description that aligns with Billups’s coaching role at the time.
NBA and Team Responses
Both Billups and Rozier have been placed on leave by their respective teams as the league cooperates with federal authorities. The NBA issued a statement emphasizing its commitment to fairness, saying, “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
Trail Blazers assistant Tiago Splitter has been named interim head coach. “We are aware of the allegations involving head coach Chauncey Billups, and the Trail Blazers are fully cooperating with the investigation,” the team said in its own statement.
The NBA Players Association also weighed in, stressing the importance of due process. “The integrity of the game is paramount to NBA players, but so is the presumption of innocence,” the NBPA said. “We will ensure our members are protected and afforded their due process rights through this process.”
Court Proceedings and Potential Consequences
Billups, Rozier, and Jones each face federal charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Prosecutors requested that Billups and Jones be released under strict bail conditions that prohibit gambling and restrict travel, noting that both men have “substantial financial resources.”
The multi-state investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not ruled out additional arrests. FBI Director Kash Patel described the case as “mind-boggling,” citing “tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.”
As the NBA grapples with the fallout, the scandal has cast a shadow over the league’s renewed embrace of legalized betting—a development once hailed as a modern revenue stream but now emerging as a potential vulnerability.
