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One nba The star and head coach were among 34 people – 13 of them reputed dacoits – who were arrested in the early hours of Thursday as part of a massive crackdown FBI Gambling investigation.
Miami Heat Star Terry Rozier was arrested at a hotel in Orlando, Florida. Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was picked up by law enforcement in Oregon.
In a 45-minute press conference in New York City, FBI Director Kash Patel painted a picture of a sweeping scam involving the Mafia that cost victims millions of dollars.
“This is a saga of insider trading for the NBA,” Patel said.
Authorities say the schemes – one of them focused on insider sports betting and the other on rigging poker games across the country – spanned years and involved wire fraud, money laundering, extortion and millions of dollars in illicit profits from gambling.
An unusual betting pattern surrounding a 2023 game that Rozier played with the Charlotte Hornets sparked the investigation. Bookmakers in several states reported suspicious interest in his statistics, resulting in an increase in bets on his points, rebounds and assists.
Billups’ arrest is part of a separate, but related, investigation into an illegal poker operation linked to the Mafia. ABC NewsBillups was expected to make an initial court appearance later Thursday.
In the game that sparked the Rozier investigation, he scored five points, four rebounds and two assists in 10 minutes, but then left the court complaining of a foot injury, and did not return, causing outrage among better players online.
Despite this, the NBA did not find that he violated any league rules.
“In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said earlier this year, though he added that the league was aware of the federal investigation.
Rozier was linked to the same investigation that led to former Toronto Raptors player Jonte Porter being banned from the NBA for life, and ultimately convicted of wire fraud in a criminal trial.
Prior to his coaching role at the Blazers, Billups enjoyed an illustrious player career, and is a five-time NBA All-Star and former NBA champion with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. He was inducted into the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
While the arrests stemmed from two separate indictments, Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said a handful of defendants were charged in both cases, including former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones.
Rozier’s attorney, James Trusty, said prosecutors “are relying on spectacularly unreliable sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was acquitted by the NBA and these prosecutors resurrected that non-case.”
With reporting from the Associated Press