Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, former NBA player Damon Jones and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups have been arrested in connection with separate illegal gambling schemes uncovered in a sweeping FBI investigation, federal authorities announced Thursday.
FBI Director Kash Patel called it one of the most brazen sports-related fraud operations the bureau has seen.
"It's 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 in fraud and theft and robbery," Patel said.
The league said that Rozier and Billups are being placed on immediate leave.
"We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority," the NBA said in a statement.
Alleged Sports Gambling Scheme
According to federal prosecutors, Rozier, Jones and four others were part of an illegal sports-betting operation that relied on private NBA insider information. Investigators say they passed along details they learned from within the league so that associates could place advantageous wagers.
In one alleged incident, prosecutors claim Rozier planned to remove himself from a 2023 game due to an injury and notified others ahead of time, allowing them to bet the “under” on his prop totals.
Rozier, now in his 11th NBA season and second with Miami, did not play in the Heat’s season opener Wednesday against Orlando. He was listed as a “coach’s decision.”
Jones, who spent a decade in the NBA from 1999-2009, later served as a Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach and was on staff during the team’s 2016 championship run.
Prosecutors said the scheme is directly tied to former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter, who was previously charged as a co-conspirator. Porter was permanently banned from the NBA earlier this year after admitting he shared inside information and manipulated his own playing time to influence bets.
Alleged Poker Scheme
In a separate indictment, authorities accuse Billups and dozens of others with mob ties of running high-stakes poker games designed to cheat invited guests out of large sums of money. Officials say the group used secret cheating technology — including an X-ray poker table, specialized contacts and specialized shuffling machines — to rig outcomes.
The FBI alleges Billups was recruited to make the games appear legitimate and attractive to victims, who believed they were receiving elite invitations to play poker with a former NBA star. In reality, investigators say, the people at the table were in on the scheme to cheat the victim out of money.
Some suspects in the poker scheme face charges including wire fraud, money laundering and extortion.
Billups is in his fifth season coaching Portland and is a five-time All-Star. He was named NBA Finals MVP in 2004 when the Detroit Pistons won the championship. He coached Wednesday night’s season opener against Minnesota.
A League Under Scrutiny
The arrests come as the NBA deepens its financial ties to the sports-betting industry, including partnerships with major sportsbooks and in-arena betting locations. Yet the league has also voiced concern about the rise of prop bets — especially those involving role players.
On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told ESPN’s Pat McAfee that the league has asked sportsbooks to scale back prop options for players with limited playing time, such as those on two-way contracts.
