A sports betting manipulation and fraudulent gambling scheme involving current and former players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) has been uncovered by U.S. authorities. Thirty-four suspects were arrested across 11 states, and the scale of the crime reaches tens of millions of dollars.
On the 23rd (local time), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) announced the results of a joint investigation. According to the joint investigation, the current and former NBA figures arrested include ▲ coach Chauncey Billups (Portland Trail Blazers) ▲ Damon Jones, who served as both a player and coach (Cleveland Cavaliers) ▲ active player Terry Rozier (Miami Heat).
Coach Billups is accused of participating in fraudulent gambling. Now 49, he played 17 seasons in the NBA and was selected as an All-Star five times. He was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year.
Rozier, an active player, is 30 and was arrested on charges of manipulating sports betting. In March 2023, when Rozier was with the Charlotte Hornets, he started, played only 9 minutes 36 seconds in the first quarter, and was substituted, then missed eight straight games. This prompted suspicions about his whereabouts and conduct.
Former coach Jones, 49, played 11 seasons in the NBA and is reportedly accused of participating in sports betting manipulation crimes that took place from 2022 to 2024.
The suspects, including these individuals, are said to have engaged in betting manipulation on U.S. sports gambling platforms known as sportsbooks by using inside information from players or teams. Since 2019, they allegedly lured victims with a "face card" that promised poker games with former NBA players and other celebrities in major U.S. cities such as Las Vegas, Miami, and Manhattan, New York, and illegally took their money.
Investigators said three of the five Italian-American mafia families operating in the eastern United States and based in New York—▲ Bonanno ▲ Gambino ▲ Genovese—were behind the crimes. The groups are believed to have evaded investigations by setting up shell companies and moving criminal proceeds using cryptocurrency.
Christopher Wray, head of the FBI's New York field office, said, "We have never taken our eyes off Italian-American crime organizations in New York, especially the five families, and we never will."