The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and a player for the Miami Heat were arrested Thursday, along with more than 30 other people in two criminal cases alleging sprawling separate schemes to rake in millions by rigging sports bets and poker games involving Mafia families, authorities said.
Portland coach Chauncey Billups was charged with participating in a conspiracy to fix high-stakes card games in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan and the Hamptons that were backed by La Cosa Nostra Crime families. Heat guard Terry Rozier was accused of a second scheme to concoct fraudulent bets by exploiting confidential information about NBA athletes and teams. Also arrested was former NBA assistant coach and player Damon Jones, who is charged with participating in both schemes.
The indictments unsealed in New York create a massive cloud for the NBA — which opened its season this week — and show how certain types of wagers are vulnerable to massive fraud in the growing, multi-billion-dollar legal sports-betting industry.
A federal magistrate judge said Thursday that Rozier could be released from custody by putting up his Florida home as bond and surrendering his passport. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Norway also restricted Rozier’s travel to the continental United States and prohibited him from gambling as conditions for his release.
Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, accused the FBI of aiming for “misplaced glory” by embarrassing the professional athlete with a perp walk for a photo-op, rather than allowing him to self-surrender.
Rozier’s attorney told reporters outside the federal courthouse after Thursday’s hearing about the March 23, 2023, game between Charlotte and New Orleans that was the focus of the charges. The NBA star played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds in the first quarter before exiting and did not play again in that game or the final eight games of the season.
Rozier was interviewed twice during an NBA investigation, and officials downloaded his phone, Trusty said.
“And at the end of the day, they said, ‘There’s nothing to see here,’ and cleared him,” Trusty said. “And that was a very professional investigation. It wasn’t something that was perfunctory.”
AP video by Mike Schneider

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