Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday in connection with two major federal gambling investigations that implicated other NBA figures, federal authorities in New York said Thursday.
Billups is one of 31 defendants, some of whom are alleged Mafia members, of participating in a nationwide scheme to rig poker games with “high-tech cheating technology to steal millions of dollars from victims in underground poker games,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said at a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel.
Victims of the alleged scheme have lost at least $7.15 million since 2019, according to the indictment in that case in Brooklyn federal court.
Also arrested Thursday was former NBA player Damon Jones.
Jones is charged in the poker-related indictment involving Billups, as well as the indictment charging Rozier and others with a scheme in which basketball bettors allegedly exploited leaked inside information about players to make profitable wagers.
Jones allegedly leaked medical information about Los Angeles Lakers stars to bettors while acting as an unofficial coach for the team, according to the sports betting indictment in Brooklyn.
That indictment suggests that Jones leaked information to bettors about the injury status of Lakers superstars LeBron James before a February 2023 game, and about Lakers player Anthony Davis before a January 2024 game.
Rozier allegedly tipped off a longtime friend in 2023, when he was playing for the Charlotte Hornets, that he planned to leave a game early for a purported injury, so the friend could make bets against Rozier performing well in that game.
Rozier, 31, and Billups, 49, “are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities,” the NBA said in a statement. “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
Former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter was previously charged in the sports gambling scheme. Porter pleaded guilty in July 2024 to wire fraud conspiracy.
FBI Director Kash Patel, at right, leads a news conference to announce arrests tied to illegal sports betting and poker game schemes, in New York City, Oct. 23, 2025.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images
In the alleged poker game scheme involving Billups, conspirators used technology that included poker chip tray analyzers and shuffling machines that could send information about players’ hands to an off-site operator, Nocella said.
The defendants also used special glasses or contact lenses “that could read pre-marked cards, and an x-ray table that could read cards face down on the table,” Nocella said.
The games that took place in the New York area were backed by the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families, he said.
An x-ray poker table.
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Justice
FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia, in a statement, said that Rozier and Jones, whose NBA career spanned from 1998 to 2009, and four other co-conspirators “allegedly informed the defendants and others of confidential information relating to upcoming NBA games and player performances, such as pre-release medical information and a player’s intention to alter their upcoming game performance, which favored certain bettors within their inner social circle.”
“This alleged collusion resulted in the defendants secretly pocketing their lavish winnings and corrupting NBA games,” Raia said.
Prosecutors said Rozier, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets, tipped a longtime friend, Deniro Laster, that he planned to leave a game on March 23, 2023, early “due to a purported injury.”
Laster and two others charged in the case, Marves Fairley and Shane Hennen, then allegedly used that confidential information to place and direct more than $200,000 in bets that predicted that Rozier would underperform in certain areas of play, which could include points scored and assists, prosecutors said.
Rozier left that game after just nine minutes, “and many of the bets paid off, generating tens of thousands of dollars in profits,” prosecutors said.
“Laster collected the cash and drove through the night to Rozier’s house, where together they counted the profits,” according to prosecutors.
Head coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts during the first quarter of the preseason game against the Golden State Warriors at the Moda Center on October 14, 2025 in Portland, Oregon.
Alika Jenner | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Billups, a former player for the Detroit Pistons who spent 17 years in the NBA, was arrested in Portland, Oregon. A five-time All-Star, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.
He was named NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 2004 when the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the league’s finals.
Billups is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Terry Rozier #2 of the Miami Heat dribbles the ball during the second half in a preseason game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Kaseya Center on October 17, 2025 in Miami, Florida.
Tomas Diniz Santos | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Rozier, a 10-year NBA veteran, before his arrest had been eyed by authorities for months due to suspicious sports betting activity related to his performance on the basketball court.
Rozier is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
He was arrested in Orlando, Florida, and released from custody after making his initial appearance in federal court in that city on Thursday afternoon. A magistrate judge required Rozier to post his $6 million house in the state as collateral for a bond. He did not enter a plea.
Jim Trusty, an attorney for Rozier, told CNBC in a statement that prosecutors “appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing.”
“Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight,” Trusty said.
Billups was released after appearing before a federal judge in Oregon, with the condition that he secure a substantial release bond when he appears in federal court in Brooklyn to answer the indictment.
Billups’ lawyer, Chris Heywood, in a statement, said, “Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others.”
“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom,” Heywood said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
FanDuel, one of the NBA’s official betting partners, in a statement, said, “Today’s events are deeply disturbing, and should concern fans, athletes, and everyone who loves sports and values integrity and fair play.”
“They also illustrate the stark contrast between legal and illegal betting markets,” the company said. “At FanDuel, we use advanced technology and real-time monitoring to identify suspicious activity and work closely with leagues, data monitoring groups, and law enforcement.”
