Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier is defending himself against federal gambling charges by going on the offensive.
Via Mike Vorkunov of TheAthletic.com, Rozier’s lawyer has filed a motion to dismiss the criminal case against him, based on the straightforward legal argument that the law he allegedly broke doesn’t apply to what he allegedly did.
Rozier, per the indictment, disclosed inside information that was used for the purposes of wagering. Citing a 2023 case from the United States Supreme Court, Rozier argues that federal fraud laws don’t apply.
In the 2023 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the federal fraud statute requires deprivation of anactual property right, and that it doesn’t apply where information that could help make economic decisions is not disclosed. Basically, the case relies on the notion not that Rozier shared inside information with someone who used it to make a winning wager, but that it wasn’t disclosed to the sportsbooks, who took the losing (for them) bets.
Rozier also argues that state law, not federal law, provides the potential relief. While that may invite a state-level case against Rozier, it could be enough to kill the federal one.
If Rozier’s interpretation of the law is accurate, the outcome will be an embarrassment to the Department of Justice, which had the full scope of the federal laws available to it and possibly picked the wrong one(s) to charge Rozier with.
Whether there’s a different federal law that Rozier violated is something the DOJ lawyers likely will be scrambling to identify. It’s possible they picked the best one they could find — and that it may end up being not nearly good enough.
