NBA Coach and Players Arrested in Sweeping Sports Betting and Rigged Poker Scheme

Nationwide Criminal Enterprise Uncovered

• 🚨 Authorities have arrested over 30 individuals across 11 states in a coordinated takedown targeting a sweeping criminal enterprise.
• 🎯 The operation involved both current and former NBA players and coaches, alongside members of organized crime families.

NBA Sports Betting Fraud

• 🏀 A federal case alleges a scheme to defraud by betting on inside non-public information about NBA athletes and teams.
• ⚠️ This information included details on player absences due to injuries or illnesses, with players like Terry Roier allegedly providing false information.
• 🗓️ The sports betting scheme is said to have operated between December 2022 and March 2024.

Rigged Poker Games and Cheating Technology

• 🃏 Another federal case targets rigged poker games allegedly operated by organized crime families since 2019.
• 💻 Defendants are accused of using wireless cheating technology, such as an X-ray table that can read cards, to run games across the US.
• 💸 Victims, lured by the chance to play with former professional athletes, allegedly lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per game.
• 🤝 The scheme targeted victims known as "fish" and used former athletes, including Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones, as "face cards."

Organized Crime and Charges

• ⚖️ The investigation successfully targeted fraud within the NBA and also infiltrated the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese crime families.
• 🗽 Most of the arrested individuals are from New York, with three from New Jersey.
• 📜 Charges include wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.