The FBI arrested several high-profile NBA players and coaches on Thursday, alleging that they were involved in illegal sports betting and poker game schemes backed by organized crime families.
Among those arrested and named in two federal indictments were Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones. The agency claims that Billups and others used their celebrity to lure marks into rigged poker games, while Rozier is accused of providing intel about his team to bettors. Rozier is accused of faking a foot injury during a 2023 game to benefit the betting ring, when playing for the Charlotte Hornets.
“This is an illegal gambling operation and sports-rigging operation that spanned the course of years,” Patel said. “We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation.”
here are the details of the alleged fraudulent poker games involving Chauncey Billups, as explained by an FBI official. It sounds extremely sophisticated. pic.twitter.com/hdhLv1YGY9
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 23, 2025
The rigged poker game scheme was backed by multiple New York Mafia operations, including the Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese families, according to the indictment. The games’ outcomes were assured via the use of an X-ray table and rigged shuffling machines.
Joseph Nocella, the interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, called schemes “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”
“Your winning streak has ended,” Nocella said of the defendants at the Thursday press conference. “Your luck has run out.”
Watch Patel’s statement via YouTube: