Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups Placed on Leave by NBA Amid Illegal Gambling Storm
Posted on: October 24, 2025, 09:05h.
Last updated on: October 24, 2025, 09:33h.
- Rozier and Billups were arraigned on illegal gambling charges on Thursday
- Two sections of the FBI illegal gambling indictment involved a sports betting scheme and an illegal poker operation
- FBI says four organized crime families were involved
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups have both been placed on immediate leave by the NBA over their alleged involvement in two separate betting scandals that erupted on Thursday.
The FBI dropped the hammer and arrested 34 people, including Rozier and Billups, and former NBA player Damon Jones, after an investigation into fraud and illegal gambling that went on for years. There were two sections of the indictment, and the coordinated FBI takedown covered 11 US states.
Billups and Roziers were arraigned on Thursday.
One of the investigations involved an illegal poker operation run by the Bonanno, Gambino, Lucchese, and Genovese organized crime families. These were rigged poker games that allegedly used a shuffle machine that could count cards and an X-ray table that read cards face down on the table, all feeding information to a control room where participants were then defrauded out of thousands of dollars.
Billups was allegedly used to help lure in poker players. The crime organizations would enforce collection on the gambling debts.
The other illegal gambling scheme allegedly involved Rozier pulling himself out of an NBA game with a supposed injury after just 10 minutes of play when he was a member of the Charlotte Hornets in March 2023. Authorities claim he left the game so that he and the bettors he was working with could cash in on $200K worth of prop betting around Rozier-related unders that game.
Sportsbooks had flagged unusual betting activity on that game, leading to a halt on prop betting.
An NYPD spokesperson said on Thursday that the group drove Rozier’s proceeds to his home and counted it there.
Feds: Brazen Scheme
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said “[The first indictment involving Rozier] involves six defendants who are alleged to have participated in one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.”
This scheme is an insider sports bettor conspiracy that exploited confidential information about National Basketball Association athletes and teams,” Nocella added.
In response to the news, a spokesperson for a licensed sportsbetting operator in Ontario told Casino.org: “This is a nightmare scenario for the NBA.”
Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, said his client was already cleared by the NBA for wrongdoing in 2023.
“They interviewed him twice,” Trusty said. “They took his phone, downloaded everything, and at the end of the day, they said there’s nothing to see here.”
Rozier was arrested early Thursday morning at the team’s hotel in Orlando after they played the Magic the previous night. Rozier sat out that game with an injury.
“It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self-surrender, they opted for a photo op,” said Trusty. “They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case.”
Rozier has one year remaining on a four-year contract that pays him a base salary this season of US$26.1 million.
Billups’ lawyer, meanwhile, said his client would never cheat anyone or risk his Hall of Fame reputation. The Trail Blazers announced Tiago Splitter as their interim head coach on Thursday.
A spokesperson from the FBI said that three of the 34 people arrested were involved in both the illegal poker operation and the sports betting scene. Members of organized crime organizations were also arrested by the FBI on Thursday.
The feds say games involving the Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, and Toronto Raptors were also involved in alleged plots on the game-fixing side.
More Arrests Coming?
“If you break the law, we’re coming for you, whether you play in the NBA, coaching the NBA,” said FBI Director Kash Patel on Fox News. “These individuals got in bed with La Cosa Nostra and four of the five major crime families in New York City to create gambling empires. They literally had scanners at the poker table, where they literally had professional athletes in the NBA walk off the court so their proposition bets could be met.”
The FBI said they expect more people to turn themselves in.
On an NBA pregame broadcast on Thursday night, Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal said “All these guys knew what was at stake, and I’m just ashamed that they put themselves and put their family and put the NBA in this position. We all know the rules. We all know the letter of the law, and it’s just unfortunate. Innocent until proven guilty, but usually when the FBI has something, they have you.”
No comments yet