by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
October 23, 2025
Thirty-four individuals had been indicted in reference to two separate federal playing investigations.
Portland Path Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier had been arrested on Thursday, Oct. 23, as a part of a federal playing investigation, CNN experiences.
Rozier was arrested in Orlando. Billups was in Portland.
They’re amongst 34 individuals indicted in reference to two separate federal playing investigations that had been introduced by the Japanese District of New York.
Billups, a Corridor of Fame participant, is alleged to have participated in “rigged” poker video games that befell in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas, and the Hamptons, in accordance with officers. The video games had been attended by members of at the very least three of New York’s mafia households.
Authorities say Billups and Damon Jones, a former NBA participant, had been paid for his or her participation, with Jones requesting a partial prepayment of $2,500 earlier than attending one of many poker video games. Jones was additionally arrested.
Rozier, who was cleared by the NBA of playing accusations, was accused of sharing details about gamers on a group’s roster with bettors earlier than video games had been performed.
In line with CNN, investigators allege between December 2022 and March 2024, Rozier tipped individuals about his availability for video games. They cited seven particular video games together with one, towards the New Orleans Pelicans, already flagged by sportsbooks for irregular exercise.
“Now we have represented Terry Rozier for over a yr,” his lawyer, Jim Trusty, informed CNN. “A very long time in the past, we reached out to those prosecutors to inform them we must always have an open line of communication. They characterised Terry as a topic, not a goal, however at 6 a.m. this morning, they referred to as to inform me FBI brokers had been attempting to arrest him in a lodge.
“…(Authorities) seem like taking the phrase of spectacularly unimaginable sources fairly than counting on precise proof of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA, and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry just isn’t a gambler, however he isn’t afraid of a combat, and he appears ahead to successful this combat.”
The NBA, the Path Blazers, and Warmth have but to touch upon the arrests.
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