In a stunning press conference that has sent shockwaves through the sports world, FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrests of over 30 individuals, including Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, in what he described as a “historic” and “wide-sweeping criminal enterprise.”
Director Patel revealed the operation links the NBA to La Cosa Nostra, alleging a massive illegal gambling and sports rigging conspiracy.
“This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years,” Patel stated. He confirmed that individuals like “Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today.”
The FBI led a coordinated takedown across 11 states, targeting a network accused of wire fraud, money laundering, and extortion. Patel emphasized the staggering scale of the financial fraud, stating, “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.”
Two Separate, Overlapping Indictments
U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella detailed two unsealed indictments. The first, an “insider sports betting conspiracy,” exploited confidential NBA information.
The defendants “perpetrated a scheme to defraud by betting on inside non-public information about NBA athletes and teams,” Nocella said. This included knowing when players would sit out games or exit early with “purported injuries.”
The scheme relied on “corrupt individuals, including Jones and Rozier.” In one chilling instance, they allegedly obtained information by “threatening a current player,” identified as the previously banned Jontay Porter, over his gambling debts.
The second indictment outlines a sophisticated, nationwide rigged poker scheme. Nocella alleged the games used “wireless cheating technology” to fleece victims, known as “fish,” out of millions.
The operation enlisted “face cards,” including Chauncey Billups, to lure wealthy victims to the tables. “What the victims didn’t know [was] that everybody else at the poker game… were in on the scam,” Nocella explained.
A “Brazen” Example Involving Terry Rozier
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch provided a concrete example of the alleged fraud. She stated that on March 23, 2023, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets, Rozier “allegedly let others close to him know that he planned to leave the game early with a supposed injury.”
Using that tip, co-conspirators placed over $200,000 in bets on Rozier’s “under” statistics. “Rozier exited the game after just nine minutes and those bets paid out,” Commissioner Tisch revealed.
Mafia Ties and Sophisticated Cheating
The rigged poker games had direct ties to organized crime. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese crime families were involved, helping organize games and enforce debt collection.
The cheating methods were extraordinarily advanced. They included secretly altered card-shuffling machines that could read decks, X-ray tables to see face-down cards, and hidden cameras. An off-site “quarterback” would then signal the best hand to conspirators at the table.
FBI Assistant Director Christopher Raia sent a clear message to organized crime, stating, “The FBI has not and will never take their eye off the ball when it comes to Italian organized crime in this city.”
Both Billups and Rozier were arraigned in federal court on Thursday. The NBA world is now left to grapple with the fallout from one of the most significant corruption scandals in league history, with the FBI promising its investigation is “ongoing.”
