Portland Path Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups pleaded not responsible Monday to alleged involvement in Mafia-linked unlawful playing schemes that rocked the NBA, US media reported.
Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Corridor of Famer, was arrested in reference to rigged unlawful poker video games tied to Mafia crime households.
He was focused together with Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led investigation into the rip-off that allegedly noticed gamers cheated with the usage of refined strategies together with an X-ray desk and barcoded card decks.
Dozens of different suspects have been arrested as a part of the FBI probe.
Rozier and Billups have been positioned on indefinite go away by the NBA after being arrested within the playing investigation.
Rozier and a former NBA participant and assistant coach, Damon Jones, have been amongst six folks arrested in a separate sports activities betting case.
Billups was indicted on prices of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and cash laundering, to which he pleaded not responsible Monday, CBS Information and USA At the moment reported.
Billups was launched on bond after initially showing in federal courtroom in Portland, Oregon, and was represented by legal professional Marc Mukasey at a short listening to in a Brooklyn courtroom on Monday.
Prosecutors say Billups’s movie star helped lure gamers to high-stakes video games that used “high-tech dishonest expertise.”
That tech included shuffling machines that might learn playing cards, hidden cameras and barcoded decks.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver mentioned final month he was “deeply disturbed” by the far-ranging FBI probe into unlawful playing.
“My preliminary response was I used to be deeply disturbed,” Silver mentioned in an interview with Amazon Prime.
“There’s nothing extra necessary for the league and its followers than the integrity of the competitors.”
Silver expressed remorse that the allegations had taken consideration away from the beginning of the season.
“I apologize to our followers that we’re all coping with, now, this case,” Silver mentioned.
Printed on Nov 24, 2025