In a massive, coordinated takedown, federal authorities unsealed indictments on Thursday charging more than 30 individuals, including prominent NBA figures, for their roles in two sprawling criminal schemes involving insider sports betting and nationally rigged poker games.
The investigations, detailed by FBI Director Kash Patel at a press conference, revealed a years-long conspiracy that leveraged insider information from the NBA and sophisticated cheating technology in high-stakes poker, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in illicit gains.
The two cases, described as separate but related, involve charges of wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, and illegal gambling.
Insider Betting Scheme Targeted NBA Prop Bets
The first case centers on a sports betting conspiracy that ran from December 2022 to March 2024. According to authorities, the scheme relied on “corrupt individuals” within the NBA who provided non-public information to their criminal associates.
This inside information included advance knowledge of when specific players would be sitting out future games or when they would intentionally remove themselves from games early, citing purported injuries or illnesses.
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was named as a central figure in this scheme. Officials provided a specific example from March 2023, where Rozier informed associates in advance that he would leave a game early with a supposed injury. This allowed his partners to place prop bets against Rozier reaching his expected statistical totals for the game, knowing he would not play his usual minutes.
The defendants used a network of “straw bettors” to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent wagers, primarily on player performance prop bets, through both online sportsbooks and in-person casinos. The illicit winnings were then laundered through peer-to-peer platforms, bank wires, and cash exchanges.
Rigged Poker Games Lured “Fish” with “Face Cards”
The second case, which began as early as 2019, involved a sophisticated nationwide operation to rig high-stakes poker games. The defendants used wireless cheating technology to defraud victims, who were referred to as “fish.”
These victims were often lured to private games in locations such as the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami, and Manhattan by the promise of playing alongside former professional athletes, known within the scheme as “face cards.”
Authorities named Chauncey Billups, an NBA Hall of Fame player and the current head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and former NBA player and coach Damon Jones as two of these “face cards.” Unbeknownst to the victims, the entire poker table—from the dealer to every other player, including the famous athletes—was part of the scam.
A “Mind-Boggling” Scale of Fraud
FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the vast scale of the criminal enterprise, stating the fraud amounted to “tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery.”
“This is not hundreds of dollars. It’s not thousands of dollars. It’s not tens of thousands of dollars. It’s not even millions of dollars. We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars,” Patel said.
The takedown was the result of a multi-year, multi-agency investigation. Arrests were carried out across 11 states. Director Patel confirmed that the investigation remains “very much ongoing.”
Both Billups and Rozier were among those taken into custody on Thursday. The indictments mark one of the most significant scandals to hit the professional basketball world in recent years, alleging a direct pipeline from the league’s inner circles to organized crime.
