Getty ImagesA star player and a coach for the National Basketball Association (NBA) were among the prominent arrests made in the US on Thursday for alleged illegal sports betting, according to US authorities.
Chauncey Billups, the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, and Terry Rozier, the player for the Miami Heat, were both reportedly detained after their teams’ Wednesday games.
The FBI said two indictments were made as part of a comprehensive investigation into illegal gambling, one involving players allegedly pretending to be injured and the other involving an illegal poker ring connected to organized crime.
What allegations are made?
According to FBI Director Kash Patel, the allegations are “mind-boggling.”
According to officials, they include indictments in two significant fraud cases.
The first incident, in which players and associates allegedly manipulated wagers on major sports betting platforms, is known as “operation nothing but bet.”
According to New York City police commissioner Jessica Tisch, players occasionally altered their performance or took themselves out of the game to ensure that those bets were paid out. Those wagers generated tens of thousands of dollars in profits.
According to officials, the second case involved professional athletes as well as four of the five major crime families in New York.
The defendants in that case are alleged to have engaged in a plot to rig illegal poker games and extort millions of dollars.
According to authorities, they did so using “very sophisticated” technology, including off-the-shelf shuffling devices, special contact lenses, and eyeglasses to read pre-marked cards. Additionally, they used a face-down X-ray table to read cards.
Former professional athletes who allegedly served as “face cards” in the scheme were allegedly coerced into participating in these games. The victims were unaware that the scam involved everyone, including the dealer and the other players.
Authorities said they began looking into these poker games in 2019 and covered a variety of locations, including Manhattan, Las Vegas, Miami, and the Hamptons.
The accused allegedly used bank wires and crypto currencies to launder money.
Additionally, they are alleged to have allegedly abused victims through extortion and a robbery at gunpoint.
Which players have been detained?
Overall, according to authorities, 34 defendants were charged with fraud in connection with the two fraud cases.
In the first case, six players, including Miami Heat player Rozier, were charged with allegedly influencing betting odds.
According to New York police commissioner Jessica Tisch, Rozier, who was then a member of the Charlotte Hornets, allegedly let people know that he planned to leave a game early with a presumptive injury in March 2023.
She claimed that members of the group then used that data to make phony bets and win large sums of money.
After Rozier’s arrest, Commissioner Tisch stated on Thursday that his “career is already benched, not for injury but for integrity.”
Damon Jones, a former NBA player, was also detained. He is said to have participated in two games that allegedly took place as part of the plot, one of which was the Los Angeles Lakers’ February 2023 game against the Milwaukee Bucks and the Oklahoma City Thunders’ game in January 2024.
Authorities identified seven NBA games that were a part of the case between February 2023 and March 2024:
- Los Angeles Lakers vs. Milwaukee Bucks on February 9, 2023
- Charlotte Hornets vs. New Orleans Pelicans on March 23, 2023
- Portland Trail Blazers vs. Chicago Bulls scheduled for March 24th, 2023.
- Orlando Magic vs. Cleveland Cavaliers scheduled for April 6, 2023
- Los Angeles Lakers v. Oklahoma City Thunder on January 15, 2024
- Toronto Raptors vs. Los Angeles Clippers on January 26, 2024
- Toronto Raptors vs. Sacramento Kings scheduled for March 20, 2024
31 defendants, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Billups, who was inducted last year into the basketball Hall of Fame, were charged in the second case, which involved illegal poker games.
In both cases, three of the accused were charged, according to authorities.
In addition to the illegal poker case, the Bonanno, Genovese, and Gambino crime families’ representatives in New York were charged with 19 counts.
Robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud, and illegal gambling are among the charges.
What has the NBA said regarding the allegations?
The NBA stated in a statement on Thursday that it is working with authorities and is currently reviewing the federal indictments that were made.
Rozier and Billups are also being “on immediate leave” from their teams, according to the league.
Who are the notorious “Five Families” of New York?
Four of the five well-known crime families in New York were involved in the alleged scheme, according to authorities.
Since 1931, the city’s Italian American mafia has been ruled by the Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families.
Major mob raids helped the rise of mafia activity in the 1990s, thanks to Rudy Giuliani, the then-New York mayor, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
However, the mafia has not completely vanished, as the indictments on Thursday demonstrate.
The Five Families frequently collaborate with their counterparts in Sicily as part of the larger American-Sicilian mafia network known as La Cosa Nostra, which means “this thing of ours.”
Source: BBC
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