In a stunning blow to the NBA's opening week, federal authorities in Brooklyn unsealed indictments on October 23, 2025, charging 34 individuals—including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Damon Jones—in elaborate schemes involving illegal sports betting and rigged underground poker games tied to New York Mafia families. The allegations, detailed during a joint press conference by the FBI, NYPD, and U.S. Attorney's Office, span fraud exceeding tens of millions of dollars and implicate members of four of the city's five major crime families: Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese.
FBI Director Kash Patel described the operation as the "insider trading saga of the NBA", highlighting how insider information and high-tech cheating devices ensnared high-profile athletes in a web of organised crime. The indictments underscore escalating concerns over sports betting integrity since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 ruling legalising it in most states, which has ballooned the industry to a $100 billion annual market but amplified vulnerabilities to manipulation.
The sports betting conspiracy, outlined in a six-defendant indictment, centres on the misuse of confidential NBA information to rig prop bets—wagers on individual player stats like points or minutes played. Rozier, 31, faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors allege he confided to co-conspirators about feigning an injury during a March 23, 2023, Charlotte Hornets game against New Orleans, exiting after 9:36 in the first quarter and sitting out the season's final eight contests. This allowed bettors, including Rozier's close friend and defendant Eric Earnest, to profit thousands on "under" props, sparking social media outrage over perceived irregularities.
Jones, 49, a former NBA player turned coach, is accused of leaking pre-public injury reports on stars like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Damian Lillard—details that matched game logs but led to losses for some bettors when inaccurate. The unnamed stars face no charges, as prosecutors emphasised they were unaware of the leaks. Rozier's attorney, Jim Trusty, decried the FBI's predawn arrest in Orlando as a "perp walk for glory," noting a prior NBA probe cleared him after phone analysis. Released on bond using his Florida home as collateral, Rozier is barred from gambling and contact with co-defendants.
Parallel to the betting probe, a 31-defendant indictment exposes a sophisticated poker-rigging operation dating to 2019, hosted in upscale venues from Manhattan's Hamptons to Las Vegas casinos. Billups, 47, and Jones allegedly served as "face cards"—celebrity draws luring wealthy "whales" and novice "fish" to high-stakes tables, where organisers skimmed millions through extortion and violence. Prosecutors detailed gadgets like modified shuffling machines transmitting card orders wirelessly to off-site "quarterbacks", who signalled accomplices via chip touches; X-ray tables scanning face-down cards; hidden chip-tray cameras; and marked decks readable via special lenses.
In one 2019 Las Vegas game, texts urged Billups to intentionally lose hands to evade suspicion, followed by a $50,000 wire transfer. Losses topped $7 million, laundered via shell companies and cryptocurrency, with enforcement including a 2023 Manhattan brawl where rivals assaulted a Gambino associate. Billups, appearing in Portland court in a hooded sweatshirt, secured release on a substantial bond, travel curbs, and passport surrender; his lawyer declined comment. The Trail Blazers placed him on leave, naming assistant Tiago Splitter interim coach and cancelling Thursday's practice ahead of Friday's home opener against Golden State.
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The fallout reverberates across the NBA, which launched its 2025-26 season amid this scandal, evoking Jontay Porter's December sentencing for similar prop-bet fraud. FanDuel decried the "deeply disturbing" events, touting its monitoring tech and league partnerships to combat abuse. The NBPA vowed to safeguard players' due process, criticising publicity tactics that erode presumptions of innocence. As Brooklyn federal court processed arraignments—detaining mob figures with violent histories while bonding others—the case spotlights prop bets' risks, which leagues like the NBA have flagged for manipulation potential. With ongoing probes into unreported player involvement, authorities warn of broader threats to sports' sanctity, blending old-school mob tactics with digital fraud in an era of legalised wagering. For Rozier, Billups, and Jones, the indictments threaten legacies built on court prowess, forcing a reckoning with off-court shadows that could redefine accountability in professional athletics.
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