This is an ongoing story. Updates will be provided as more information becomes available
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were among more than 30 people arrested Thursday morning in what the FBI and the Eastern District of New York characterized as “numerous arrests in illegal sports betting and poker games schemes.”
During Thursday’s Department of Justice press conference, FBI Director Kash Patel referred to today’s events as “A historic arrest across a wide-sweeping criminal enterprise that envelops both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra.” In total, 34 defendants were arrested across 11 states for their alleged involvement in two separate illegal poker and sports betting schemes.
Soon after the press conference, the NBA released a statement saying, “We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today. 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 and former Cavaliers player and coach Damon Jones were among six co-conspirators mentioned in the indictment connected to illegal sports gambling schemes. According to U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Joseph Nocella Jr., “This scheme is an insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information about National Basketball Association athletes and teams.”
It’s the same scheme for which former NBA player Jontay Porter previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July 2024. He received a lifetime NBA ban after it was discovered that he not only bet on the Raptors to lose, but also pretended to be hurt for gambling purposes and shared confidential information with gamblers.
Rozier was selected 16th overall pick by the Boston Celtics in the 2015 NBA draft after averaging 17.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals a game as a sophomore for the Louisville Cardinals team that made the Elite Eight. The 10-year veteran played five years with the Celtics and four years with the Hornets before being traded to the Heat midway through the 2023-24 season for Kyle Lowry and a 2027 first-round pick.
Rozier played 64 games for Miami last season, starting 23 of them, while averaging 10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.6 assists in nearly 26 minutes per game. He was on the Heat’s active roster for their opening night game on Wednesday against the Magic. He did not see any minutes in that game and was later arrested on Thursday morning while the Heat were still in Orlando, Florida.
The arrest of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups was connected to the second and separate indictment, which is an illegal poker operation tied to the Mafia. Law enforcement officials maintained that Billups has not committed any crimes connected to any games in which he was the coach.
According to U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr., the rigged poker game case began as early as 2019, and was “a scheme to use wireless cheating technology to run rigged poker games across the United States, including in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Miami, and Manhattan.”
Billups, who, at the time, was a former NBA player, and Jones, who had just finished serving as an assistant coach for the Cavaliers, were allegedly used as “face cards” to entice unwitting gamblers to play in these rigged poker games. Billups and Jones were then cut in on the profits taken from these games.
The Trail Blazers canceled media availability on Thursday but did issue a statement: “We are aware of the allegations involving head coach Chauncey Billups, and the Trail Blazers are fully cooperating with the investigation. Billups has been placed on immediate leave, and Tiago Splitter will assume head coaching duties in the interim. Any further questions should be directed to the NBA.”
Before becoming a head coach, Billups was a 17-year NBA player, mostly for the Detroit Pistons, and was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024. He was a five-time All-Star and led the Pistons to an NBA title in 2004, in which he was named Finals MVP. After retiring in 2014, Billups worked as an NBA analyst for ESPN and spent one season as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2020-21 season. The Portland Trail Blazers then hired him as their head coach for the 2021 season.
Billups is now in his 5th season as Portland’s head coach and has posted a 117-212 (.356) winning percentage. Despite his poor overall record, the Trail Blazers are seen as a young and ascending team, and Billups signed a multi-year extension with the team in April.
Billups appeared in court in Oregon on Thursday and was released on bond. Rozier will appear in court in Orlando, and then both men will be arraigned on their indictments in Brooklyn at a later date.
