- Rozier and Billups have been arraigned on unlawful playing prices on Thursday
- Two sections of the FBI unlawful playing indictment concerned a sports activities betting scheme and an unlawful poker operation
- FBI says 4 organized crime households have been concerned
Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier and Portland Path Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups have each been positioned on speedy depart by the NBA over their alleged involvement in two separate betting scandals that erupted on Thursday.
Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups exits a Portland courthouse after his arraignment on Thursday, Oct. 23 2025. Billups, the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, was charged for his alleged participation in a scheme that concerned rigging unlawful poker video games. (Picture: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Photographs)
The FBI dropped the hammer and arrested 34 individuals, together with Rozier and Billups, and former NBA participant Damon Jones, after an investigation into fraud and unlawful playing that went on for years. There have been two sections of the indictment, and the coordinated FBI takedown lined 11 US states.
Billups and Roziers have been arraigned on Thursday.
One of many investigations concerned an unlawful poker operation run by the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese organized crime households. These have been rigged poker video games that allegedly used a shuffle machine that might rely playing cards and an X-ray desk that learn playing cards face down on the desk, all feeding data to a management room the place individuals have been then defrauded out of hundreds of {dollars}.
Billups was allegedly used to assist lure in poker gamers. The crime organizations would implement assortment on the playing money owed.
The opposite unlawful playing scheme allegedly concerned Rozier pulling himself out of an NBA recreation with a supposed damage after simply 10 minutes of play when he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets in March 2023. Authorities declare he left the sport in order that he and the bettors he was working with may money in on $200K value of prop betting round Rozier-related unders that recreation.
Sportsbooks had flagged uncommon betting exercise on that recreation, resulting in a halt on prop betting.
An NYPD spokesperson stated on Thursday that the group drove Rozier’s proceeds to his dwelling and counted it there.
Feds: Brazen Scheme
Talking at a press convention on Thursday, United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. stated “[The first indictment involving Rozier] includes six defendants who’re alleged to have participated in one of the brazen sports activities corruption schemes since on-line sports activities betting turned broadly legalized in the USA.”
This scheme is an insider sports activities bettor conspiracy that exploited confidential details about Nationwide Basketball Affiliation athletes and groups,” Nocella added.
In response to the information, a spokesperson for a licensed sportsbetting operator in Ontario instructed On line casino.org: “It is a nightmare situation for the NBA.”
Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, stated his shopper was already cleared by the NBA for wrongdoing in 2023.
“They interviewed him twice,” Trusty stated. “They took his telephone, downloaded every thing, and on the finish of the day, they stated there’s nothing to see right here.”
Rozier was arrested early Thursday morning on the group’s lodge in Orlando after they performed the Magic the earlier night time. Rozier sat out that recreation with an damage.
“It’s unlucky that as a substitute of permitting him to self-surrender, they opted for a photograph op,” said Trusty. “They wished the misplaced glory of embarrassing knowledgeable athlete with a perp stroll. That tells you a large number concerning the motivations on this case.”
Rozier has one 12 months remaining on a four-year contract that pays him a base wage this season of US$26.1 million.
Billups’ lawyer, in the meantime, stated his shopper would by no means cheat anybody or danger his Corridor of Fame fame. The Path Blazers introduced Tiago Splitter as their interim head coach on Thursday.
A spokesperson from the FBI stated that three of the 34 individuals arrested have been concerned in each the unlawful poker operation and the sports activities betting scene. Members of organized crime organizations have been additionally arrested by the FBI on Thursday.
The feds say video games involving the Path Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, and Toronto Raptors have been additionally concerned in alleged plots on the game-fixing aspect.
Extra Arrests Coming?
“When you break the regulation, we’re coming for you, whether or not you play within the NBA, teaching the NBA,” stated FBI Director Kash Patel on Fox Information. “These people obtained in mattress with La Cosa Nostra and 4 of the 5 main crime households in New York Metropolis to create playing empires. They actually had scanners on the poker desk, the place they actually had skilled athletes within the NBA stroll off the courtroom so their proposition bets could possibly be met.”
The FBI stated they count on extra individuals to show themselves in.
On an NBA pregame broadcast on Thursday night time, Corridor of Famer Shaquille O’Neal stated “All these guys knew what was at stake, and I’m simply ashamed that they put themselves and put their household and put the NBA on this place. Everyone knows the foundations. Everyone knows the letter of the regulation, and it’s simply unlucky. Harmless till confirmed responsible, however normally when the FBI has one thing, they have you ever.”
