FBI Director Kash Patel held a press conference revealing some stunning details about the agency’s probe into NBA-related illegal gambling. The likes of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami guard Terry Rozier have been part of a lengthy federal probe that has now resulted in their arrest.
Further, as per ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel, four NBA teams in the form of the Charlotte Hornets, the Los Angeles Lakers, the Toronto Raptors and the Portland Trail Blazers were bet on as part of the illegal gambling scandal.
The probe is being run out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, which also prosecuted former Raptors center Jontay Porter, who pleaded guilty to a wire-fraud conspiracy tied to betting manipulation. Patel described a nationwide criminal enterprise with ties to La Cosa Nostra, naming the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Luchese families.
Patel said the investigation involves 31 defendants and tens of millions of dollars, with alleged conduct spanning illegal gambling, sports rigging, wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery, and crypto fraud. Authorities characterized Thursday’s action as a “historic arrest” across a wide criminal enterprise that overlaps the NBA and organized crime.
Billups was in a case that ABC described as linked to an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia, and multiple outlets called his matter “separate but related” to Rozier’s. Rozier was taken into custody in Orlando and is connected to a federal probe into possible manipulation of his performance in a March 23, 2023, Hornets game.
In that game, Rozier played 9:34, exited with a right-foot issue, did not return, and then missed the season’s final eight games. The NBA previously said its review of that Rozier game found no violation of league rules, and Rozier’s lawyer asserted he had been treated as a “subject, not a target,” while criticizing the manner of Thursday’s arrest, per PBS.
Ex-Cavaliers assistant Damon Jones was also arrested, and federal officials signaled that additional defendants will be implicated via two indictments. Billups and Rozier are expected to appear in federal courts in Oregon and Florida, respectively, as prosecutors detail charges tied to the alleged gambling enterprise.
