The NBA is currently dealing with the fallout from Thursday’s arrests relating to multiple FBI investigations into illegal gambling.
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were among those arrested earlier today. In total, 34 people were arrested in the culmination of a yearslong probe by the FBI, bureau director Kash Patel said at a news conference this morning.
“This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years,” Patel said. “The FBI lead a coordinated takedown across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing. Not only did we crack into the fraud that these perpetrators committed on the grand stage of the NBA, but we also entered and executed a system of justice across La Cosa Nostra.”
Rozier is accused to participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using insider NBA information. Another former NBA player and assistant coach, Damon Jones, was also arrested.
Meanwhile, Billups was charged in a separate indictment for his alleged involvement in an illegal, Mafia-backed enterprise involving rigged poker games.
NBA makes decision on Rozier, Billups
In a statement released a short time ago, the NBA revealed that both men have been placed on immediate leave from their respective organizations.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today,” the statement reads. “Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
Rozier did not play in the Heat’s season-opening loss to the Orlando Magic Wednesday night, while Billups was on the sideline for Portland’s opening defeat against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
According to ESPN, both Billups and Rozier face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. Both are due in court later today, Billups in Oregon and Rozier in Florida.
It is alleged that Rozier, Jones and others “exploited confidential information about National Basketball Association athletes and teams” to execute their scheme, including “when specific players would be sitting out future games or when they would pull themselves out early for purported injuries or illnesses.”
Billups and 30 other defendants are accused of participating in a nationwide conspiracy to rig poker games, which used various high-tech cheating methods to “scheme targeted victims known as ‘fish.’”
