Federal prosecutors allege that Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones acted as “face cards” to lure wealthy players into fixed poker games across the country.
Billups, the Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer, and Jones, a former NBA player and coach, were said to have been used to attract victims – known in the operation as “fish” – who believed they were joining legitimate high-stakes games.
“What the victims, the ‘fish,’ didn’t know is that everybody else at the poker game, from the dealer to the players, including the ‘face cards,’ were in on the scam,” said U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr.
“Once the game was underway, the defendants fleeced the victims out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.”
According to prosecutors, the rigged games took place in the Hamptons, Miami, Las Vegas, and Manhattan.
The group allegedly used altered card shufflers capable of reading the deck and relaying winning hands to an off-site operator, who then fed the information to a “quarterback” at the table.
Other devices included “poker chip tray analyzers,” hidden cameras, contact lenses that could read pre-marked cards, and even an “X-ray table” to view face-down cards. Billups was named among five defendants accused of organizing the Las Vegas sessions.
“Victims were attracted to play alongside well-known professional athletes and coaches, like Chauncey Billups, only to be unknowingly deceived through rigged shuffling machines,” said FBI official Christopher G. Raia.
“This alleged scheme exploited the fame of some and the wallets of many to fund New York’s Italian crime families.”
The sweeping indictments, which also implicated Heat guard Terry Rozier in a separate insider betting case, have shaken the NBA. Both Billups and Rozier were placed on immediate leave by the league.
How Chauncey Billups allegedly served as ‘face card’ in illegal gambling ring https://t.co/E7LwkhyUCj pic.twitter.com/2GfigLbdv9
— New York Post (@nypost) October 23, 2025
