LOS ANGELE (OC).–Shocking the professional sports world, NBA Portland Trailblazer’s head coach and Miami Heal point guard Terry Rozier were arrested by the FBI for a years-long investigation into separate gambling cases. FBI Director Kash Patel said the investigation took years and spanned 11 states, involving 30 individuals in ling Eric Earnest, Marves Farley, Shand Hennen and Daniro Laste, all named in the Department of Justice Indictment. Billups, Rozier and former Clevelnd Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones were named specifically in the rigged poker game tied to the Bonano, Gambino and Genovese crime families, all accused of rigging games to advantage the Mafia in a fixed poker game, allegedly using marked cards detected on X-ray tables. Professional gambler Matthew Berkey tipped off the media in 2023 saying Billups’s card game was clearly rigged.
Billups, 49, had a distinguished NBA career, eventually becoming a coach with the Los Angeles Clippers and eventually accepting a head coaching position in Portland. Billups helpd the Detroit Pistsons win an NBA title in 2004, serving as a five-time All-Star. So, his presence named in the multiyear FBI indictment for running a Mafia controlled poker game came as shock to the league, if, for no other reason, he appeared often as a guest analyst on ESPN and other sports channels. Billups was voted into the Naismith Basket Hall of Fame in 2024. Appearing in federal court today in Portland, Billups was put on administrative leave by the NBA, emphasizing that he’s entitled to the presumption of innocence despite the FBI well-documented probe that took years to complete. FBI officials don’t take cheating in professional sports betting lightly due to the amount of cash involved.
Damon Jones was named in the same crime family poker game as Billups, something Billups created in 2019. Rozier was investigated for 2022-2023 game with the Charlotte Hornets, playing the New Orleans Pelicans. After a bettor places a bet for 14,000 on the under for Rozier left the game early, claiming a foot injury. Wall Street Journal reported in January that authorities were looking into whether Rozier “manipulated his performance as part of an illegal sports betting scheme.” Proving fixing NBA games is not going to be easy for the FBI, largely because it’s difficult to provide evidence of manipulation by certain players like Rozier. When it comes to Billups and Jones, the FBI has more concrete evidence that they created and participated in a Mafia-controlled poker game. Rozier’s defense attorney Jim Trusty said the FBI grandstanded arresting Rozier in public.
Trusty blamed the FBI for making Rozier go on a perp walk rather that allowing him to surrender to the FBI. “It is unfortunate that instead of allowing [Rosier] to self surrender they opted for a photo op. The wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case. They appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrong doing,” Trust said. Impugning the FBI is a typical defense strategy to shoot the messenger. FBI officials in announcing the indictments had to go public at some point, knowing that arrests would be made for engaging in illegal betting. NBA’s Players’s Association protects professional athletes emphasized that “the integrity of the game is paramonunt,” claiming that using Billiup’s arrest proved the FBI’s bias.
Defense attorneys typically focus on the government’s overly zealous prosecution. “The integrity of the game is paramount to NBA players, but so is the presumption of innocence, and both are hindered when player popularity is misused to gain attention. We will ensure our members are protected and afforded their due process rights through this process,” said the NBA Players’s Assn. Whether someone like Billups is well-known or not, it’s not the government fault how famous or anonymous certain alleged criminals. Getting charged in a years’ long FBI investigation doesn’t mean they’re deliberately exposing someone’s fame to publicize a particular criminal case. Whatever fame any defendant has, it’s not the FBI fault that they have a high-profile reputation. Billups wasn’t not named in Rozier’s indictment by but he could be unindicted Co-Conspirator No 8 in Rozier’s case.
Rozier was named in the FBI probe after Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter was banned from the NBA for life, after Porter was founded to have passed information to bettors in two games in 2023. Before defense attorney start attacking the messenger, the FBI is the one that deserves the presumption of innocence when conductung criminal probes. When Jontay Proter was banned from NBA for leaving games to winning bettors on the under, they got a lot of information from NBA players with inside knowledge of the betting schemes. Patel said he would provide in due time more information on Billups, Jones and Rozier. NBA officials put Billups and Rozier on administrative leave while the league works with the FBI to get out the facts. No prefssional sports league can tolerate players or coaches involved in gambling, certainly not collaborating with Mafia crime families.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
