Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones have been arrested as part of an FBI investigation into illegal sports betting and an illegal poker scheme, the FBI announced Thursday.
"It's not hundreds of dollars. It's not thousands of dollars. It's not tens of thousands of dollars. It's not even millions of dollars. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery," FBI Director Kash Patel said.
The scheme involved both rigged poker games and illegal participation in sports betting, officials said. Officials said that the case involved multiple organized crime families and that over 30 people were arrested.
Prosecutors said the defendants used sophisticated money laundering methods.
Wire fraud, money laundering and extortion were among the charges prosecutors levied on Thursday.
Officials said that Rozier was accused of leaving a game early in 2023, notifying others he planned to pull himself from a game with an injury. Others allegedly bet "under" on prop bets involving Rozier.
"This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years," Patel said.
Rozier sat on the bench and did not play in the Heat’s season opener on Wednesday against the Orlando Magic, listed as a “coach’s decision.”
Rozier is beginning his 11th NBA season and second with Miami.
The FBI said that the suspects used cheating technologies, including an X-ray table, to read cards face down on a table. Officials said that Billups was recruited to make poker games seem legitimate.
Billups is in his fifth season coaching Portland after a distinguished playing career that included five NBA All-Star Game appearances. He was named NBA Finals MVP in 2004 when his Detroit Pistons won the championship.
The Trail Blazers opened their season Wednesday night at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves, with Billups on the sidelines.
Their charges come a year after Raptors forward Jontay Porter was permanently banned from the NBA after being accused of being involved in a gambling scheme that included him placing a bet on the Raptors.
Officials said that Porter was involved in the scheme, saying that others used his gambling debts against him.
Jones was in the NBA as a player from 1999-2009. He was an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavs when the team won a title in 2016.
The arrests come as many NBA teams have formed strong partnerships with sports books, with some teams opening sports books at their arenas.
Although the NBA and numerous teams have formed formal partnerships with sports books amid the expansion of legal sports gaming, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has expressed concern over so-called prop bets.
On Tuesday, speaking to ESPN's Pat McAfee, Silver said that the league has asked sports books to pull back on prop bets for players who have less impact on games, such as those on two-way contracts.
