Massive NBA Gambling Scandal Exposed After Dozens of Indictments

Over 30 people have been indicted after a massive insider trading scandal involving gambling in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Yesterday, dozens of people were arrested across different parts of the country after the FBI busted two gambling schemes in the NBA. These people involve citizens from various walks of life, including basketball players, coaches, and managers and Mafia members.

The investigations uncovered an insider sports-betting scandal and a scheme to rig illegal poker games, with the FBI alleging that the crimes were also associated with several alleged gambling rings. Over 30 people have been indicted for various charges, including conspiring to commit fraud, money laundering, illegal gambling, and extortion.

Among the people arrested, several notable ones include Terry Rozier, a point guard for the Miami Heat, Chauncey Billups, the coach for the Portland Trail Blazers, and Damon Jones, a former player and coach. Jones is one of three people that were involved in both schemes, according to the federal government.

The first scandal alleges that Rozier and five others used insider information from the NBA to place illegal bets between December 2022 and March 2024, allowing them to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. Proof of this was shown with an example on March 23, 2023, when Rozier was on the Charlotte Hornets.

In a game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Rozier tipped off his close friend Deniro Laster, who arranged for the group to bet hundreds of thousands of dollars predicting for a poor performance from him. Using information from Rozier and Jones, they were able to continuously make illegal bets on games and players' performances using online betting apps.

The scheme even involved NBA star LeBron James, though he was indirectly brought into the situation by Jones and did not participate in any illegal activities. The FBI found that Jones, who was a former teammate and close friend of James, had been serving as an unofficial assistant coach in February 2023, allowing him to tip off the group that James would not be playing that night.

The other scandal found Billups to be a participant in illegal poker games, which took place in Manhattan, Las Vegas, and the Hamptons. These poker games were run by Mafia members who used the money to track down people who were indebted to them. The games were discreetly advertised to innocent victims, who were drawn to join due to the prospect of meeting big stars like Jones and Billups.

However, the two had rigged the game using an automated shuffler that informed them of the cards in the deck and special sunglasses that allowed them to read the backs of each player's card, allowing them to defraud participants. According to authorities, one victim lost as much as $1.8 million in one game, and these profits were split between Jones, Billups, and other people involved in the scandal like Mafia members.

Both schemes are a huge loss to the NBA, which is now experiencing its worst scandal since 2007, when a referee was found to be participating in illegal betting, and authorities have suggested that even more people could be indicted as the investigation goes on. Lawyers for both Rozier and Billups have argued that both players did nothing wrong, and they will be fighting their case in court.

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