On Thursday, October 23, 2025, a seven-count indictment was unsealed at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, charging 31 defendants across 11 states for their alleged involvement in illegal poker games. Among those arrested were Portland Trailblazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups, former Cleveland Cavaliers Assistant Coach Damon Jones, and members and associates of organized crime families. Federal prosecutors claim the defendants secured at least $7 million through the alleged scheme.
“As alleged, members and associates of organized crime families fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to cheat victims out of millions of dollars and conspired with others to perpetrate their frauds,” United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said. “Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as ‘Face Cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed [contact] lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big.”
Billups and Jones are involved in one of the two major federal indictments connected to the NBA. Also, Jones, Terry Rozier, and four others were arrested in connection with an illegal sports betting scheme. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York claims the group used confidential information about player injuries and lineup decisions to place wagers before it became public.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today. Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups are being placed on immediate leave from their teams, and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities,” a statement from the NBA reads. “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains or top priority.”
Each defendant connected to the alleged sports betting scheme will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date. If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 40 years.
