Are There Plea Deals on the Horizon for Defendants in Mob-Linked Gambling Case?
Posted on: November 22, 2025, 11:42h.
Last updated on: November 22, 2025, 11:42h.
- Reports say defendants in gambling cases involving an NBA player and coach are negotiating plea deals
- Close to three dozen people arrested in nationwide FBI action in October
- Two separates gambling cases, one involving an illegal poker scheme and the other connected to illegal sports betting
Defendants charged by the FBI in two gambling cases ensnaring a current NBA player and coach are reportedly in discussions for a plea deal, according to federal prosecutors in a court filing Thursday.
In October, the FBI announced the arrests of nearly three dozen people across the U.S., including members of the mafia, allegedly involved in a rigged poker scheme where people were bilked out of tens of millions of dollars, and another sports betting scheme where people were using non-public information to place wagers on NBA games.
In the illegal poker game case, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of New York, 31 defendants across 11 states were charged in a seven-count indictment in a scheme where victims were cheated out of millions of dollars in high-stakes poker games. The victims were at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines (with hidden technology allowing it to read all the cards in the deck, so because they were always dealt in a particular order to players at the table, the machines could determine which player would have the winning hand) and specially designed contact lenses and sunglasses to read the back of playing cards.
Rigged Card Shuffling Machines
Portland Trailblazers coach and NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups allegedly acted as a “Face Card” to lure unsuspecting victims into Texas Hold’em games, a scheme that goes back to 2019.
In a scene right out of The Sopranos, after years of investigation, according to the Attorney General’s office, money from the scheme was also funneled La Cosa Nostra, one of the most notorious criminal networks in the world. Members from three La Cosa Nostra mafia families were arrested as part of the bust in October.
Mafia members were around to in part enforce debt collections, the indictments said, with some of the charged defendants and other co-conspirators committing acts of violence.
Mob Enforcement
The federal prosecutors filed the court documents referencing the plea deal negotiations to a U.S. District judge, presiding over the poker case, 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.
There was however no indication who among the 31 arrested were negotiating plea deals. Billups is due for an arraignment Monday in New York on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, each carrying possible sentences of 20 years. Billups’ attorney has already said his client is innocent and will plead not guilty. So did the lawyer for Damon Jones, a former NBA player also charged in the poker scheme. Jones has already pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Sports Betting Scheme
The other gambling case focused on the leaking of inside information involving Miami guard Terry Rozier for gambling purposes. Rozier, when he was member of the Charlotte Hornets, allegedly pulled himself out of a game early in March 2023 so that gamblers who had made under bets on that could cash in, out of which Rozier was also paid a sum. The NBA player has been accused of providing inside information to gamblers who made bets on games involving the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets and Trail Blazers over a year.
Rozier will be arraigned Dec. 8. His lawyer said he will be entering a not guilty plea. Rozier is on leave from the NBA and is not collecting his salary, at $26.6 million per season. A source in this report said that if Rozier is cleared of the charges he could receive his withheld salary in one chunk.
Billups is also on leave from the NBA and his salary is being withheld.
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