FBI Press Conference: NBA Gambling Probe, Organized Crime, and Rigged Poker Games

Nationwide Takedown Against Criminal Enterprises

• 🚨 The FBI, in coordination with multiple law enforcement agencies, announced a historic takedown across 11 states, arresting over 30 individuals involved in illegal gambling and sports rigging operations.
• 🤝 This operation targeted a criminal enterprise that spanned both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra, involving major crime families including Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese.

NBA Insider Sports Betting Conspiracy

• 🏀 A major indictment details a sports corruption scheme involving former and current NBA players and coaches, including Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier.
• 💡 The defendants allegedly exploited confidential information about NBA athletes and teams, such as player availability and injuries, to place fraudulent bets, primarily on individual player performance.
• 💰 These bets, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, were placed through online sportsbooks and casinos, with intended losses reaching millions of dollars.
• 🔗 The scheme involved corrupt individuals and misused information from friendships with NBA personnel, and in at least one instance, involved threatening a current player, Jonte Porter, due to gambling debts.

Rigged Poker Games and Organized Crime

• 🃏 Another indictment targets 31 defendants involved in a nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games using high-tech cheating technology.
• 🎲 Victims, often lured by the chance to play with former professional athletes known as "face cards," were fleeced out of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game through rigged shuffling machines, card readers, and other sophisticated methods.
• 💰 The games, which took place in various locations including New York, Las Vegas, and Miami, were backed by La Cosa Nostra crime families, who helped organize games and enforce debt collection.
• ⚠️ The scheme involved acts of violence, including gunpoint robbery and extortion, to enforce payments and obtain cheating equipment.

Law Enforcement and Legal Ramifications

• ⚖️ Charges include wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery, and illegal gambling, with defendants facing accountability in court.
• 🤝 The investigation highlights the collaboration between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the NYPD, HSI, and the Waterfront Commission.
• 🔍 Investigations are ongoing, and law enforcement encourages anyone with information about either scheme to come forward.