Federal prosecutors said in a court statement on Thursday that defendants accused by the FBI in two gambling cases involving a current NBA player and coach are reportedly negotiating a plea agreement.
The FBI announced in October that nearly three dozen people had been arrested nationwide, including members of the mafia who were allegedly involved in a rigged poker scheme that defrauded people of tens of millions of dollars and another sports betting scheme that involved people using confidential information to wager on NBA games.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of New York, 31 defendants from 11 states were accused in a seven-count indictment in the illegal poker game case of defrauding victims of millions of dollars in high-stakes poker games. The victims were at the mercy of hidden technology, such as specially made contact lenses and sunglasses that could read the back of playing cards and rigged shuffling machines that could read every card in the deck because they were always dealt to players at the table in a specific order.
Chauncey Billups, the coach of the Portland Trailblazers and an NBA Hall of Famer, is accused of using a "Face Card" to entice gullible people to Texas Hold'em tournaments since 2019.
After years of inquiry, the Attorney General's office claims that money from the plan also went to La Cosa Nostra, one of the most infamous criminal networks in the world, in a scene straight out of The Sopranos. During the October bust, members of three La Cosa Nostra mafia families were taken into custody.
According to the accusations, some of the accused defendants and other co-conspirators committed violent crimes, while mafia members were there to partially enforce debt collections.
A U.S. District judge overseeing the poker case received the court documents pertaining to the plea offer negotiations from the federal prosecutors on Thursday.
“Although it is too early for the government and any of the defendants to engage in substantial plea negotiations, the government and defense counsel for several defendants have begun productive discussions that the government hopes will ultimately lead to resolutions as to several defendants without the need for a trial,” federal prosecutors said in the court filings.
However, it was unclear whether of the 31 people detained were negotiating plea agreements. Billups is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday in New York on accusations of money laundering conspiracy, wire fraud, and conspiracy, each of which carries a 20-year maximum penalty. Billups' lawyer has already said that his client is innocent and will enter a not guilty plea. The attorney for former NBA star Damon Jones, who was also implicated in the poker scheme, did the same. Jones has already entered a not guilty plea to the accusations.
The disclosure of insider information on Miami guard Terry Rozier for gambling purposes was the subject of the other gambling lawsuit. When Rozier was a member of the Charlotte Hornets, it is said that he pulled himself out of a game early in March 2023 to allow gamblers who had placed under bets to pay in. Rozier was reportedly compensated. The NBA player is suspected of giving insider information to gamblers who wagered on games involving the Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, and Charlotte Hornets over the course of a year.
Rozier's arraignment is scheduled for December 8. According to his attorney, he will submit a not guilty plea. Due to his NBA sabbatical, Rozier is not receiving his $26.6 million season pay. According to a source in this article, Rozier may get his withheld salary all at once if the allegations against him are dropped.
Billups' income is being withheld while he is on leave from the NBA.
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