Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday morning as part of an ongoing federal investigation into two separate gambling schemes. In a press conference afterward, officials from multiple enforcement agencies detailed those alleged schemes. One involved prop bets and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent profits, and another involved illegal rigged poker games and millions of dollars of fraudulent profits. The two alleged schemes vary in scope and appear to have bundled together because of the pro basketball angle, and because they involved three overlapping defendants, including former NBA journeyman Damon Jones. The NBA announced in a statement that both Rozier and Billups have been placed on immediate leave.
The alleged scheme involving Rozier had to do with the manipulation of prop bets. The gamblers supposedly used non-public information about NBA players, and a network of straw bettors operating on online sportsbooks and in-person casinos, to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars. They bet the under on the players who intended to play worse, or remove themselves early from games. The example cited by New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch was a game on March 23, 2023, when Rozier left the game after nine minutes of play. Later that evening, Tisch said, his co-conspirators assembled at Rozier's house to count tens of thousands of dollars in winnings. (The NBA had previously investigated Rozier for betting patterns around that game, but cleared the player of any wrongdoing.)
The co-conspirators also allegedly shared information about the Blazers' tanking plans:
Billups was not a named defendant in this investigation, but for context, Co-Conspirator 8 is described in the indictment only as "an NBA player from approximately 1997 through 2014, and an NBA coach since at least 2021," which would uniquely designate him.
The other alleged scheme, which did implicate Billups, involved rigged, illegal poker games. Perpetrators allegedly used technology like hidden cameras, special contact lenses and glasses that allowed the wearer to read pre-marked cards, rigged shuffling machines that could analyze the sequence of cards in the deck, as well as X-ray tables that could read cards placed face down. This information was relayed to offsite operators who could then advise the schemers on how to manipulate the game.
"Fish" were lured into these games by the prospect of playing with professional athletes. Billups was allegedly one such athlete, as was Damon Jones. (Shoutout to anyone lured into an illegal gambling ring by the opportunity to Remember A Guy who posted a career 6.6 points per game.) These games were allegedly set up in concert with several organized crime families, and involved included robbery at gunpoint to procure one of the rigged shuffling machines, and the threat and extortion of players who hadn't paid up.
It's hard not to assume that this crackdown was pegged to the start of the NBA season, even though FBI director Kash Patel would not comment on the reason for the timing. There was a self-consciously grandiose air to the officials' remarks. Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, had some epic lines for the defendants: "Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out. Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that." While detailing the prop bet scheme, Nocella also referred to the "Toronto Rangers," indicating the limits of his basketball knowledge.
Kash Patel—a man who perpetually looks like it's 4 a.m., the club has turned on the lights to send stragglers home, and he's recently spilled an IPA down the front of his shirt—spoke in his usual addled manner. "This is an operation that showcases to you, that under President Trump's administration, there is no room for any type of criminal behavior, be it on the world's largest stage, or in the backrooms of tiny parlors, where card games are being played," he said. Patel also repeatedly referred to the organized crime network as "La Casa Nostra" instead of "Cosa."
They really seemed to be relishing the storyline. "With the alleged involvement of three Cosa Nostra crime families, one NBA head coach—a Hall of Famer, no less—and former NBA players, the years of investigative work, that culminated with this morning's operation, seem reminiscent of a Hollywood movie," said Ricky Patel, special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations. "Let's not mince words, this is the insider trading saga for the NBA. That's what this is, that's why we'll take heat," Kash Patel said.
The Billups indictment can be read here, and the Rozier indictment can be read here.
