The professional sports world was rocked Thursday (Oct. 23) with news of several high-profile gambling-related arrests. Among the 34 defendants in two separate cases are Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
According to FBI Director Kash Patel and other authorities, the extensive illegal operations involved “mind-boggling” amounts of fraud. The indictment that includes Billups concerns a scheme to rig underground poker games backed by several Mafia families.
Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said defendants allegedly used technology to steal more than $7 million from victims. “Your winning streak has ended,” he told the defendants. “Your luck has run out.”
Billups, 49, is charged with money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges. He is expected to make an initial court appearance later today (Oct. 23).
In a statement, the NBA said it had placed Billups and Rozier on immediate leave. “We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today,” the league stated, in part. “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
Chauncey Billups Thanked God in Hall of Fame Speech
Chauncey Billups played in the NBA for 17 seasons, mostly with Detroit. When the Pistons won a championship in 2004, he was named NBA Finals MVP.
Billups, a five-time NBA All-Star, was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024. During his speech, he began by thanking God “for everything, to be honest.”
Billups continued:
I really want to thank [God] for making me understand who I was at a very young age and also who I wasn’t. I’ve seen a lot of people fail in life trying to be something or somebody that they weren’t. So I thank God for just giving me the courage to be me when I was a 15-year-old freshman in high school.
Billups was a high school standout in Denver, played college basketball at the University of Colorado, and was selected third overall in the 1997 NBA Draft. After numerous trades, he landed in Detroit, where he found a “second home.”
After retiring from playing in 2014, Billups worked as a TV analyst and then entered coaching. In 2021, he began serving as Portland’s head coach, and he signed an extension with the team in April. On Wednesday night (Oct. 22), the Trail Blazers opened their season with a loss at home. The next morning, Billups was arrested in Oregon.
The professional sports world was rocked Thursday (Oct. 23) with news of several high-profile gambling-related arrests.Click to Post
