23rd October 2025 – (New York) More than 30 suspects, among them Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, have been detained in federal investigations into illicit betting and alleged sports manipulation with ties to multiple New York crime families, officials announced on Thursday.
At a briefing in Brooklyn, FBI Director Kash Patel said the arrests spanned two intertwined cases: one concerning sports wagering using privileged information, and another centred on clandestine poker games allegedly fixed with sophisticated cheating tools. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said the National Basketball Association is cooperating. Sportsbooks are described by prosecutors as victims rather than collaborators.
Authorities outlined an indictment against 31 defendants accused of orchestrating a coast-to-coast poker operation that used rigged shuffling machines, X‑ray technology and covert signalling to fleece players in underground games. Events were staged from 2019 in locations including the Hamptons, Manhattan, Las Vegas and Miami. Officials estimate proceeds from the poker scam at roughly $7 million, with one victim losing $1.8 million. Backing for some New York-area games is alleged to have come from the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese families.
A parallel case focuses on insider information connected to NBA fixtures. Prosecutors allege current and former basketball figures passed non-public details to associates who then placed wagers through legal outlets barred from trades based on confidential information. Examples cited include a March 2023 Hornets game in which Rozier is said to have notified a contact he would exit early with a purported injury; bets worth about $200,000 were allegedly placed on his underperformance. Former player and assistant coach Damon Jones is accused of exploiting an informal link to the Los Angeles Lakers to obtain medical information used for betting. Seven NBA games between February 2023 and March 2024 are under scrutiny across the two probes.
Billups, a five-time All-Star and 2004 NBA Finals MVP inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024, was arrested in Portland. Rozier was detained in Orlando. Jones, a former guard best known for his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, is among those charged. Officials said 34 defendants are implicated across both cases, including 13 members and associates of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese families. Three defendants appear in both indictments.
Charges span wire and crypto fraud, money laundering, bank fraud, illegal gambling, extortion and robbery. When some gamblers refused to settle losses, mob-linked defendants allegedly resorted to threats and violence, according to the NYPD. The four-year inquiry, supported by Homeland Security Investigations and dubbed Operation Royal Flush, culminated in coordinated raids on Thursday morning.
Officials emphasised the breadth of the enterprise, describing a network that lured victims with the presence of well-known personalities, including athletes, at poker tables to confer legitimacy. Patel said the conspiracy jeopardised public confidence in sport for financial gain. Prosecutors noted the investigations do not involve college basketball and reiterated that bookmakers were also deceived.
Context offered at the briefing highlighted the resurgence of regulated sports betting in the United States since 2018, when a Supreme Court ruling empowered states to legalise wagering. Legal handle has soared, intensifying concerns over integrity risks across professional leagues even as those leagues partner with gaming firms.
The NBA did not immediately comment.