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nba coach and Hall of Fame Member Chauncey Billups is accused of luring high-stakes poker players to games he knew were fixed, while veteran NBA forward Terry Rozier is accused of faking an injury and sitting on the bench to help bettors win thousands of dollars in 2023.
But do prosecutors have a strong case against him?
proving those different cases new york Legal experts told The Associated Press after reviewing the blockbuster indictments unsealed Thursday that a federal court will need proof of criminal intent by the two, not just baseless allegations.
The indictment against Billups, 49, reads like a movie script, detailing how the poker game was played on tables with hidden X-ray capability and rigged machines to read the cards. However, court documents do not say how much money, if any, he raised or how he communicated with the poker fixers.
His lawyer has questioned why Billups – who was nicknamed Mr. Big Shot when he played for the Detroit Pistons – took all this risk when he was already a millionaire.
Rozier, 30, left a game early against New Orleans at the end of the 2022-23 season and did not play again charlotte in the final eight games that followed. His lawyer said Rozier told several people that he was actually injured.
“The public needs to be aware: Having an indictment does not mean guilt has been determined,” the lawyer said. john lauroWho represented a disgraced NBA referee in a gambling scandal in 2007.
What lawyers say about the challenges for the government and defense teams:
poker cheating ring
The biggest name so far is Billups, a five-time All-Star as a player who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame just last year. The head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers is accused of participating in high-stakes poker games that were fixed with sophisticated cheating devices to fleece unsuspecting gamblers out of millions.
Former federal prosecutor Michelle Epner said the indictment did not state that Billups would have known the poker game was rigged. “Even if they got money to help get high level people into the games, it’s not illegal,” he said.
What prosecutors will have to prove, Epner said, is that Billups knew the games were fixed and that he benefited from being there.
Former federal prosecutor Evan Gottlob doubts that investigators will have emails, text messages or even witnesses linking Billups to the scheme.
“When a white-collar case like this takes a few years to develop, they usually have cooperating witnesses. Or as the mob calls them, ‘snitches,'” said Gottlob, who now works on white-collar crime.
The best evidence in these types of cases is communication between people, potentially text messages, he said. “We can find out that they had wiretaps,” he said.
Gottlob said, “Unless they have a strong case, they’re not going to charge someone like Hall of Fame player Chauncey Billups.” “You don’t really want to ruin someone’s life without good evidence.”
One possible defense that Billups’ lawyers could make is to question why a man who has made over $100 million in his career and built a solid reputation would risk it all for a relatively small payout.
“If he was living the high life and still had a lot of money, that’s a viable defense,” said Rocco Cipparone Jr., a New Jersey defense attorney and former federal prosecutor. “If he blew it all, it would make more sense.”
Feds say fake injury rained cash
According to the indictment, Rozier is accused of telling a friend that he would miss a game in early March 2023, the non-public information being spread to others, who placed and won more than $250,000 in prop bets on his weak 5-point performance for the Charlotte Hornets.
The court filing lists several unnamed co-conspirators who played tricks and may become key witnesses.
“It will make the case much harder to defend,” said Brian Lecchio, a Detroit-area attorney who represented a gambler in the University of Toledo basketball point-shaving scandal in 2006.
Lauro said prosecutors typically try to build a conspiracy case around unindicted co-conspirators, people who have not been charged but admit wrongdoing.
“A big part of this is to get communications (at trial), more likely text messages, between the targeted defendant and non-indicted co-conspirators,” Lauro explained. “The government is clearly stepping up the work.”
But Lauro said he would not be disappointed.
The New York defense attorney said text messages “are not necessarily clear and you don’t always have the full context.”
The indictment states that Rozier’s childhood friend, Deniro Laster, used text messages to share information with others about the player’s plans to leave the game. In exchange, the indictment says, Laster would receive a share of the winnings.
Anyone betting that Rozier would perform under the scoring line set by the oddsmakers was in danger.
The indictment states that Lester went to Rozier’s home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and they “counted the money” together in the early morning hours a week later. The document does not say Rozier received a cut.
“When you get into that level of detail, prosecutors may know because someone in the room knew it. It’s certainly a sign of power,” said Steve Dollier, a former Chicago federal prosecutor.
Defense attorney Jim Trusty said Rozier was cleared during the NBA’s pretrial investigation.
“It has no evidentiary value,” Lauro said. “As a defense attorney or prosecutor, I really wouldn’t care what the NBA did.”