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An NBA Hall of Fame basketball coach and alleged member of the American Mafia are at odds with federal prosecutors. A year-long scheme to swindle millions of dollars from big rollers who had no chance of winning.
One explosive charge The basketball stars and bookmakers have been accused of conspiring with four of the Five New York Families to rig illegal, high-stakes poker games across the country with high-tech equipment – with threats of violence against Marks, who was left in debt from the fraud scheme.
Charges filed Thursday in Brooklyn federal court accuse Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones of participating in the alleged scheme along with 30 other defendants.
According to prosecutors, beginning at least in 2019, the defendants and their co-conspirators “engaged in a complex fraudulent scheme to rig or defraud illegal poker games” throughout the United States, where high rollers were enticed to play with big names at the tables before being paid thousands of dollars per game.
The defendants, who allegedly defrauded victims out of $7.15 million, have been charged with wire fraud, operating an illegal gambling business, money laundering, extortion and armed robbery.
“The fraud is shocking,” FBI Director Kash Patel said at a news conference in Brooklyn on Thursday announcing the charges.
Christopher Raya, Assistant Director in Charge of FBI New York, said, “This alleged illegal gambling operation defrauded unwitting victims of millions of dollars, and created a financial pipeline for La Cosa Nostra to fund and facilitate their organized criminal activity.”
He said the indictment is just “the tip of the iceberg.”
NBA ‘face card’ and crowd promoter
The defendants are accused of organizing illegal games and inviting “face cards” – including famous faces Billups and Jones – to attract wealthy players who became their victims, or “fish”.
According to prosecutors, Ammar Avvadeh, who was criminally charged last year in a separate gambling scandal, teamed up with Jane Hu, Robert “Black Rob” Stroud and Seth Trustman to organize the illegal games – running with the “explicit permission and approval” of members and associates of organized crime families.
The indictment states that Tony Goodson, Shane Heinen, Curtis Meeks and Robert Stroud provided them with “fraudulent techniques.”
Meanwhile, the victims believed they were playing a “straight” illegal poker game on equal footing with the players next to them, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, “In fact, defendants and their co-conspirators, who allegedly included the remaining participants playing poker games, worked together on cheating teams… that used advanced wireless technologies to read the cards dealt in each poker hand and relay that information to defendants and co-conspirators participating in the illegal poker games.”
The indictment states that the defendants and their co-conspirators placed bets accordingly to ensure that the victims lost.
High-tech fraud tools and millions of dollars at stake
According to the indictment, in the games, the plaintiffs used card shuffling machines that were secretly altered to use hidden technology to read the cards in the deck, guess which player had the best poker hand at the table, and relay that information via interstate wires to an off-site operator.
That operator then called the “quarterback” or “driver” at the table, who used “covert signaling” to share that information with other members of the group.
Other means of cheating reportedly include “electronic poker chip trays” that can secretly read cards on the table; fake cell phones that secretly analyzed cards; and playing cards with personalized markers that could only be seen by players wearing special sunglasses or contact lenses.
According to the indictment, one victim was defrauded out of at least $50,000 for a game in Las Vegas in 2019.
The indictment says that at a New York game in 2023, one of several “John Doe” victims in the case was defrauded out of approximately $1.8 million.
Another 2023 game in East Hampton defrauded two victims of $46,500 and $105,000, according to prosecutors.
At a Miami game in September 2024, another John Doe lost at least $60,000, prosecutors said.
Money laundering, extortion and armed robbery
Anthony “Doc” Shnaderman is accused of laundering the money that the defendants allegedly extorted from victims through shell companies to conceal their scheme.
In exchange for a share of the winnings, alleged members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families were hired to use “threats and threats” to extort debts owed from illegal games.
The indictment states that Ernest Aiello, Thomas “Juice” Geraldo and Julius “Jay” Ziliani received proceeds on behalf of the Bonanno crime family. Matthew “The Wrestler” Daddino allegedly received income on behalf of the Lucchese crime family.
According to prosecutors, John Gallo, Lee Fama, Joseph Lani and Angelo Ruggiero Jr. received the proceeds on behalf of the Gambino crime family.
Gallo, as well as alleged Gambino family associates Louis “Lou Ape” Apicella and Nicholas Minucci, are accused of organizing illegal games.
At least two John Doe victims were allegedly threatened with violence in extortion attempts to collect debts, and in September 2023, multiple defendants allegedly held another John Doe victim at gunpoint to steal a rigging shuffling machine.
More indictments shake up the NBA and the world of sports betting
A separate indictment unsealed Thursday accuses NBA stars of participating in a sports betting conspiracy that arose from questionable betting activity on sports.
That case involves six defendants, including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
Damon Jones — who played for 10 teams in his decade-plus NBC career, including three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers — is charged in both cases.
The four sportsbooks that allegedly took fraudulent bets are not named in that indictment.
A spokesperson for online betting platform DraftKings said, “While the regulation cannot eliminate all concerns related to the integrity of the game, it significantly reduces the risks by enabling collaboration between operators, leagues, teams and relevant authorities to identify and hold anyone engaged in illegal conduct accountable.” “We know our fans value the authenticity of the competition, and we take the responsibility to report suspicious activity seriously.”
Billups, a former Detroit Pistons player who spent 17 years in the NBA, was arrested in Portland, Oregon.
Rozier, a 10-year NBA veteran, was arrested in Florida.
According to the NBA, both individuals were placed on immediate leave from their teams.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal charges announced today,” the NBA said in a statement Thursday. “We will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities. We take these allegations extremely seriously, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”