• Rozier, Billups arraigned yesterday
• Two sections of the FBI illegal gambling indictment, involving sports betting scheme and illegal poker operation
• FBI says four organized crime families involved 

Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups have both been placed on immediate leave by the NBA over their alleged involvement in two separate betting scandals that erupted yesterday.

Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups exits a Portland court house after his arraignment yesterday. Billups, the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, was charged for his alleged participation in a scheme that involved rigging illegal poker games. Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images.

Mass FBI Takedown

The FBI dropped the hammer and arrested 34 people, including Rozier and Billups, and former NBA player Damon Jones, after an investigation into fraud and illegal gambling that went on for years. There were two sections of the indictment, and the co-ordinated FBI takedown covered 11 U.S. states. 

Billups and Roziers were arraigned yesterday. 

One of the investigations involved an illegal poker operation run by the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese and Genovese organized crime families. These were rigged poker games including a shuffling machine that could count cards and an X-ray table that read cards face down on the table, all feeding information to a control room where participants were then defrauded out of thousands of dollars. Billups was allegedly used to help lure in poker players. The crime organizations would enforce collection on the gambling debts.

Poker X-Ray Tables

The other illegal gambling scheme allegedly involved Rozier pulling himself out an NBA game when he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets in March 2023 just ten minutes in with a supposed injury. That was so that he and the bettors he was working with could cash in on $200,000 worth of prop betting around Rozier-related unders that game.

Sportsbooks had flagged unusual betting activity on that game, leading to a halt on prop betting.

An NYPD spokesperson said yesterday the group drove Rozier’s proceeds to his home and counted it there. 

Feds: Brazen Scheme

Said United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.: “[The first indictment involving Rozier] involves six defendants who are alleged to have participated in one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”

“This scheme is an insider sports bettor conspiracy that exploited confidential information about National Basketball Association athletes and teams,” Nocella added.

As a spokesperson for a licensed sportsbetting operator in Ontario told Casino.org: “This is a nightmare scenario for the NBA.”

Rozier’s lawyer Jim Trusty said his clients was already cleared by the NBA for wrongdoing in 2023.

Trail Blazers Name Interim Head Coach

“They interviewed him twice,” he said. “They took his phone, downloaded everything and at the end of the day they said there’s nothing to see here.”

Rozier was arrested early yesterday morning at the team’s hotel in Orlando after they and played the magic the previous night. Rozier sat out that game with an injury.

“It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self-surrender they opted for a photo op,” said Trusty. “They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case.”

Rozier has one year remaining on a four-year contract that pays him a base salary this season of USD $26.1 million.

Shaq: Ashamed

Billups lawyer said his client would never cheat anyone and rsk his Hall of Fame reputation. The Trail Blazers announced Tiago Splitter as interim head coach. 

A spokesperson from the FBI said that three of the 34 people arrested were involved in both the illegal poker operation and the sports betting scene.

Members or organized crime organizations were also part of yesterday’s wave of arrests by the FBI.

The feds say games involving the Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors were also involved in alleged plots on the game-fixing side.

More Arrests Coming?

“If you break the law, we’re coming for you, whether you play in the NBA, coaching the NBA,” said FBI Director Kash Patel on Fox News. “These individuals got in bed with La Cosa Nostra and four of the five major crime families in New York City to create gambling empires. They literally had scanners at the poker table, where they literally had professional athletes in the NBA walk off the court so their proposition bets could be met.”

The FBI said they do expect more people to turn themselves in.

On an NBA pre-game broadcast last night, Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, said: “All these guys knew what was at stake, and I’m just ashamed that they put themselves and put their family and put the NBA in this position. We all know the rules. We all know the letter of the law, and it’s just unfortunate. Innocent until proven guilty, but usually when the FBI has something, they have you.”

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