(NEXSTAR) — State and federal authorities on Thursday announced a sweeping investigation that linked more than 30 people — including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier — with two gambling schemes tied to multiple Mafia families.
These schemes are broken into two major cases, U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said, with one related to insider sports betting and the other to rigged poker games. Though the cases are separate, Nocella said there are three defendants who have been charged in both.
So what happened?
‘One of the most brazen sports corruption schemes’
First, the sports betting.
Those accused of participating in this scheme allegedly shared insider information, like when a player would sit out in a future game or find a way to remove themself from a game, to bettors who could then set their prop bets accordingly.
Authorities explained Thursday that involved NBA players would alter their performance or take themselves out of a game — feigning injury or illness, for example — to ensure certain bets involving them paid out heavily.
Most of those bets were prop bets, according to Nocella. A prop bet focuses on a player’s stats, like how many total points they’ll score, unlike other betting that relies on the outcome of one or more games (the latter would be considered a parlay, in which you need multiple wagers to hit).
Among the games in which those allegedly informed bettors profited is a March 23, 2023, game in which Rozier, then a member of the Charlotte Hornets, left after playing for less than 10 minutes and did not return. Other games highlighted by officials were:
- Feb. 9, 2023: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Milwaukee Bucks
- March 24, 2023: Trail Blazers vs. Chicago Bulls
- April 6, 2023: Orlando Magic vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
- Jan. 15, 2024: Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
- Jan. 26, 2024: Toronto Raptors vs. Los Angeles Clippers
- March 20, 2024: Raptors vs. Sacramento Kings
Nocella called it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States,” saying six defendants were involved, including former NBA players Damon Jones and Rozier.
The indictment of Rozier and others says there are nine unnamed co-conspirators, including a Florida resident who was an NBA player, an Oregon resident who was an NBA player from about 1997 to 2014, and an NBA coach since at least 2021, as well as a relative of Rozier.
Among the previously charged co-conspirators in the case is former NBA player Jontay Porter, who has already pleaded guilty to charges that he withdrew early from games, claiming illness or injury, so that those in the know could win big by betting on him to underperform expectations.
The information was obtained through connections the bettors had with those in the NBA and, in at least one instance, Nocella said Porter’s alleged gambling debts were used to threaten him for details.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars were wagered using this insider information, Nocella alleged during Thursday’s press conference. He noted bets were made in person at casinos and via online sports books – the latter of which were determined to be victims in this case.
Rigged machines, “face cards,” and fish
Nocella said the defendants in the second case have, since as early as 2019, used rigged machines and other technology to run rigged poker games in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Manhattan, and Miami.
Players, known as “fish,” were invited to play alongside former professional athletes, dubbed “face cards,” in these games. Among the face cards, according to Nocella, were Jones and Billups.
Other players at the table, the face cards, and the dealers knew the games were rigged with the help of “very sophisticated cheating technologies,” while the fish were unaware, Nocella explained.
Shuffling machines had been “secretly altered” so they could read the cards and predict who at the table would have the best hand. That information was transmitted to someone off-site, who then notified someone at the table, referred to as “the quarterback.” Armed with that information, the quarterback would secretly signal others involved in the scheme about what they knew. That, Nocella explained, allowed the players and face cards to win games “and cheat victims.”
Other technology allegedly used in the scheme included chip readers that could analyze cards, special contact lenses or glasses to pick up on marked cards, and X-ray tables to read face-down cards.
Members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese organized crime families – three of the five main Mafia families known to operate in New York City – “had preexisting control over non-rigged, illegal poker games around New York City,” Nocella explained, giving way to them getting involved in these rigged poker games.
More specifically, he said, those involved helped organize the games, taking a cut of the winnings, and “working to enforce the collections of debts.” On at least one occasion, a victim was also held at gunpoint so a rigged card shuffling machine could be obtained.
Funds won during the game – Nocella said tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars would be collected from the fish per game – were allegedly laundered.
“My message to the defendants who’ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out,” Nocella said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
