The FBI publicizes NBA arrests in reference to a Mafia-related playing and sports activities fixing investigation

More than 30 people, including NBA head coach Chauncey Billups and player Terry Rozier, have been arrested as part of a federal investigation into gambling and “sports fixing” linked to several major crime families, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

“We are here in New York to announce a historic arrest in connection with a wide-ranging criminal enterprise spanning both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra,” FBI Director Kash Patel said at a news conference in Brooklyn.

Portland Trailblazers head coach Billups, Miami Heat’s Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones were “taken into custody today,” Patel said.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella said the arrests stemmed from two major fraud-related cases: one involving sports betting and the other related to “rigged poker games.”

The latter indictment includes 31 defendants who allegedly “engaged in a nationwide scheme” to rig the games by “using high-tech cheating technology to steal millions of dollars from victims of underground poker games that were secretly rigged,” Nocella said.

The games, which took place in the New York area, were supported by the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families, he said.

“This suspected illegal gambling operation took tens of millions of dollars from unwitting victims and created a financial pipeline for La Cosa Nostra to finance and facilitate its organized criminal activities,” said FBI New York Assistant Director Christopher Raia.

Head coach Chauncey Billups of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts during the first quarter of the preseason game against the Golden State Warriors at the Moda Center on October 14, 2025 in Portland, Oregon.

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Billups, a former Detroit Pistons player who spent 17 years in the NBA, was arrested in Portland. Billups, a five-time All-Star, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2024.

Rozier was arrested in Orlando, Florida.

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Rozier, a 10-year NBA veteran, has reportedly been under surveillance for months for suspicious sports betting activity related to his gaming.

Terry Rozier #2 of the Miami Heat dribbles the ball during the second half of a preseason game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Kaseya Center on October 17, 2025 in Miami, Florida.

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Billups was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 2004 when the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in the league finals.

Jones, 49, played for 10 teams in his decade-plus NBA career, including three seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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