Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA guard Damon Jones were arrested Thursday as part of an FBI investigation into illegal sports betting and allegedly rigged poker games.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver was asked Friday night about Thursday’s arrests:
In a press conference on Thursday, FBI director Kash Patel announced the arrests of Rozier, Billups and Jones in relation to an “illegal gambling operation and sports-rigging operation that spanned the course of years.”
Billups and Rozier were placed on immediate leave, the NBA said in a statement. Tiago Splitter will assume coaching duties in Billups’ absence, the Blazers announced.
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. said that Rozier is a defendant in the NBA gambling case, which was an investigation the NBA cooperated with, while Billups is a defendant in the poker case. Jones is a defendant in both cases.
In total, six people have been charged in the alleged sports gambling scheme, while there are 31 defendants in the illegal poker case.
Regarding the NBA betting case, Nocella said bets were placed based on “inside, non-public information” such as when players would miss future games or when players would pull themselves out of games early due to injury or illness.
“The non-public information included when specific players would be sitting out future games, or when they would pull themselves out early for purported injuries or illnesses,” Nocella said, per CNN.
“They also misused information obtained through long-standing friendships that they had with NBA players and coaches, and in at least one instance, they got their information by threatening a current player—(Jontay) Porter—because of his preexisting gambling bets. Defendants used this non-public information to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent bets, mostly in the form of prop bets on individual player performance. The bets were placed through online sports books and also in person at casinos.”
Per CNN’s Mark Morales and Kara Scannell, FBI officials alleged that Rozier provided that type of information to sports bettors and faked an injury nine minutes into one game to benefit the betting ring.
New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch expanded on the allegation, noting that bettors involved with the case wagered more than $200,000 on the under for multiple statistical prop bets involving Rozier for a game between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Pelicans:
“One example occurred on March 23, 2023, in Charlotte. Terry Rozier, an NBA player now with the Miami Heat, but at the time playing for the Hornets, allegedly let others close to him know that he planned to leave the game early with a supposed injury.
“Using that information, members of the group placed more than $200,000 in wagers on his ‘under’ statistics. Rozier exited the game after just nine minutes, and those bets paid out, generating tens of thousands of dollars in profit. The proceeds were later delivered to his home, where the group counted their cash. As the NBA season tips off, his career is already benched, not for injury, but for integrity.”
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, released a statement to Morales and Scannell regarding his client’s arrest:
“We 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.
“[Authorities] appear to be taking the word of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”
Billups’ attorney Chris Heywood also released a statement, stating they will be fighting the FBI’s charges:
With regard to the poker case in which Billups and Jones were named, Nocella said the defendants “orchestrated a scheme to use wireless cheating technology” to run rigged poker games in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami and Manhattan.
Per CNN’s Kyle Feldscher, Nocella further explained the alleged operation, saying Billups was utilized as a “face card,” which is a professional athlete who would sit alongside players and use their star power in order to distract them from the game.
Aside from the alleged victims, Nocella said, everyone was in on the plan, including the dealer, other players and the face cards, resulting in the victims losing “tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.”
Nocella continued by saying there were other tactics allegedly used by the defendants, such as rigged shuffling machines and other forms of technology:
“For example, they used off-the-shelf shuffling machines that had been secretly altered in order to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand, and relay that information to an off-site operator. The off-site operator sent the information via cellphone back to a co-conspirator at the table, and that person at the table was known as the quarterback.
“The quarterback then signaled secretly the information he had received from others to others at the table, and together, they use that information in order to win their games and to cheat the victims. Defendants used other cheating technologies such as poker chip tray analyzers, which is a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera, special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards and an X-ray table that could read cards face down on the table.”
The NBA has been attempting to crack down on suspicious gambling ever since handing down a lifetime ban to Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter last year.
A league investigation determined that Porter illegally disclosed health information to a bettor before a game, prompting an $80,000 parlay to be placed on Porter’s statistical props.
Porter left the game after only three minutes of action because of illness, but due to the circumstances, the parlay was frozen and not paid out.
Porter later pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in connection to the gambling case.
During an appearance Tuesday on the Pat McAfee Show (h/t ESPN’s Doug Greenberg and David Purdum), NBA commissioner Adam Silver expressed his desire for more regulation of sports betting, particularly from the federal government.
“I think, probably, there should be more regulation, frankly,” Silver said. “I wish there was federal legislation rather than state by state. I think you’ve got to monitor the amount of promotion, the amount of advertising around it.”
Rozier, 31, is in his 11th NBA season and his third as a member of the Heat after they acquired him in a trade with the Hornets during the 2023-24 season.
Originally selected 16th overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2015 NBA draft out of Louisville, Rozier has appeared in 665 career regular-season games, averaging 13.9 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest.
Per Spotrac, Rozier has earned just over $160 million during his playing career.
In 64 games with the Heat last season, Rozier averaged 10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
Despite dressing for the game, Rozier did not play in the Heat’s 125-121, season-opening loss to the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
Billups, 49, has been the Blazers’ head coach since 2021, posting a 117-212 record with no playoff appearances.
He is best known for his Hall of Fame playing career with the Celtics, Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers from 1997 to 2014.
Nicknamed “Mr. Big Shot” due to his penchant for coming through in the clutch, Billups was a five-time All-Star, and he was named NBA Finals MVP in 2004 when he led the Pistons to a championship.
Billups earned nearly $107 million during his playing career, according to Spotrac, and he signed a multiyear coaching contract extension with the Blazers in April.
On Wednesday, Billups coached the Blazers to a 118-114, season-opening loss to the T-Wolves.
The 49-year-old Jones was an NBA guard for 11 seasons from 1998 to 2009, playing for the New Jersey Nets, Celtics, Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Vancouver Grizzlies, Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks, Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Milwaukee Bucks.
Jones also served as an assistant coach with the Cavs from 2016 to 2018, winning an NBA championship during that tenure. In 657 regular-season games played, Jones averaged 6.6 points, 2.7 assists and 1.6 rebounds per contest.
