- 3 months ago
A Sports Betting Conspiracy! Miami Heat Guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones and more have been arrested this morning for allegedly being part of a massive gambling scandal. We listen to the Live Press Conference with FBI Chief Kash Patel regarding the fraud, sports betting, and rigged poker games
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SportsTranscript
00:00Do you think Eric Spolster just wakes up this morning after a hard-fought game
00:05and just turns over at the pillow and just screams?
00:14I'm having a hard time believing that nobody knew what was going on.
00:30Do you want to throw to it, Brittany? Do we got it?
00:34Do you think we can get the audio on this?
00:36Will that work with our stream as well?
00:42Ooh, Damon Jones.
00:45This is Curtis. We have a WPLG. Thank you for that.
00:48Let me see the stream.
01:00All right, so let me go, Brittany, keep your eye on that.
01:10Let me know when the director comes up.
01:12So for those who are just following today, and we'll start off with our headlines,
01:15brought to us by Duralkia.
01:16Home of the Pricito, our lowest price.
01:18Visit Duralkia or Duralkia.com.
01:21Terry Rozier was arrested last night after the Miami Heat's game in Orlando,
01:25and this is in connection with the federal gambling probe.
01:30That he was cleared on?
01:31Yeah, that Schaum said he was cleared on four months ago,
01:33which he's really had an A-plus summer Schaum.
01:36He wasn't acting like he was cleared on.
01:39Yeah, well, he apparently was arrested yesterday,
01:44and this is in conjunction with multiple NBA personalities.
01:50The biggest name of it, honestly, is Chauncey Billups,
01:53Portland Trailblazers coach.
01:54We're getting a lot of details on this as far as it all flies in.
01:58Chauncey Billups has reportedly, allegedly was involved in illegal poker games
02:03that had ties to the mafia,
02:04and also there was former Heat guard and current assistant,
02:09or was an assistant coach, Damon Jones,
02:12and Damon Jones was also in part of this as well.
02:16So we're going to send it over to the press conference with Cash Patel,
02:22who I believe is going to announce the indictments,
02:24and what this all means.
02:26We'll get into what this means for the Miami Heat,
02:28because obviously this has been something that's kind of been lingering,
02:32and Terry Rozier had a very odd, odd Heat career,
02:36where he joined Miami on a trade where the Heat flipped Kyle Lowry
02:42on a first-round pick for him,
02:43desperately to bring in some offense for a team,
02:46and then he had like two good games,
02:49and then all of a sudden his first season just ended mysteriously
02:53with a neck injury that nobody could really explain.
02:55And then he came back and quite literally was the worst player in the NBA
02:58the next year for a guy who was a 20-point scorer,
03:01made no sense whatsoever.
03:04You could look at some of those games that he was having,
03:06and people have drawn their own conclusions as to how fishy they looked.
03:09But yeah, so what are we looking at right now, Brittany?
03:13Have they started yakking on it yet?
03:15Have we gotten to it?
03:17So the first guy just left the podium,
03:20and I'm assuming they're waiting for Cash Patel as we speak,
03:23but nobody's at the podium right now.
03:25Yeah, it's national news right now.
03:28We got CNN and Fox News are talking about it.
03:33Not ESPN, though.
03:34They're talking about William Young last night.
03:35He was awesome.
03:36In fact, he was awesome.
03:37Did you see what he did to the AD?
03:40He's never looked that small in his life.
03:41I know.
03:42It's crazy.
03:43And slow.
03:44It's crazy.
03:45He's 7'5", and he had AD looking like he was average.
03:54This is crazy.
03:56This is crazy.
03:57So I think it's not gambling on basketball,
04:05what everybody thought it was.
04:09Chauncey's.
04:10Terry Rozier's, we believe, is in a link to...
04:13No, but they're getting arrested on this poker thing.
04:16Not all of them, no.
04:17No, really?
04:18No.
04:18Terry, this is a massive gambling thing.
04:21What you're saying is in regards to Chauncey Phillips,
04:23they're saying his did not involve games.
04:25Though, there may be some things with Damon Jones that is being alleged,
04:30a lot of stuff flying in,
04:31that are saying he may be keeping inside information and things like that.
04:35Terry Rozier's thing goes back to 2023,
04:37where he suspiciously left the game with the Hornets.
04:40There was a lot of unders being placed on him.
04:43Remember, we talked about this in July.
04:45There's an ESPN report that said,
04:47I believe it was a Mississippi sports...
04:48They didn't want to pay.
04:49The Sports Gaming Commission eventually came back and said,
04:51even on the day that it happened, how suspicious it was.
04:54And they ended up paying because they couldn't prove anything.
04:57But this went to an NBA investigation.
04:59They cleared Terry Rozier while he was on the Hornets.
05:02Right.
05:02And then last January, we come back,
05:06and the FBI's like,
05:07we're investigating Terry Rozier as part of the same gambling probe
05:10that took down Johnson Porter,
05:11who I don't know if he's...
05:13...on this or what,
05:15or how he's gotten more information on this.
05:16Lee Beasley, of course, was also part of this.
05:19So, yeah.
05:20No, this is...
05:21I don't know.
05:22I guess we'll find out from the press conference,
05:23but no, I'm assuming Terry Rozier is involved with manipulating games.
05:29Yikes.
05:30Yikes, dude.
05:31Yeah, yikes.
05:32I always...
05:33I always thought...
05:36And I'm...
05:37If this is accurate, I am 100% wrong.
05:41I always thought that it would be difficult
05:44if somebody was involved in this
05:50because of the amount of money that they make.
05:53Even in gambling, you can't...
05:57There's not a way for you to bet enough money
06:01to make money
06:04without, you know,
06:07and risk the amount of money that you earn
06:09doing that job.
06:11I don't know how I was wrong on this.
06:15I absolutely thought there was no way they could get players to do this
06:19because of the amount of money.
06:21Because, keep in mind,
06:23if you make...
06:24Say you make $5 million a year.
06:26Any amount of money
06:30that you would make
06:32to kind of
06:33add to that
06:35is going to throw up a red flag.
06:39Right?
06:39You want to know something, dude?
06:40We don't know what kind of sneaky people
06:42people get involved with.
06:44It may not just be a money thing.
06:45Maybe they got information.
06:46Maybe they got something
06:47that he feels like he's got to make good on.
06:48No, I got you.
06:49We don't know.
06:50You don't know why people get involved
06:51in the things they do.
06:52I just thought...
06:53Hey, does the Mafia seem reasonable?
06:56No.
06:57No, I'm not.
06:58Why would Chauncey Billups...
06:59Of course.
07:00Like, why would somebody in that regard
07:02need to do something?
07:04But, I don't know.
07:05I don't know.
07:06It's crazy things.
07:08That's why, like,
07:09when the Jontae Porter thing,
07:10it's like, oh,
07:11that's a 10-day player.
07:13You know?
07:13Like, it seems on its face
07:15like that's where it makes sense.
07:17But, for, you know,
07:20for somebody like Terry Rozier
07:21who's making $26 million a year,
07:24well, maybe not this year,
07:26but...
07:26You see what I'm saying?
07:27Like, that is just, like...
07:30What?
07:34Well, let me ask you this, dude.
07:35What do you think...
07:36What do you think makes sense for...
07:39Again, this is all legend and whatnot,
07:42but let's just use our eyes.
07:43We've all seen Terry Rozier
07:44play basketball.
07:46What the hell was last year?
07:48Are we to assume that it was all over?
07:49If he felt like he got away with it,
07:51last year,
07:53or two years ago
07:54when he was cleared,
07:55we're to assume that's to be the end?
07:57Terry Rozier just all of a sudden
07:58became an unplayable basketball player.
08:01Right.
08:02Like, that's normal?
08:03I don't know.
08:04Maybe the weight of all that crap on him.
08:06Eh, maybe.
08:07Maybe the weight of it.
08:07I don't know.
08:08Maybe they were still...
08:09Maybe they were still...
08:10Who knows?
08:11Right, but it sucks.
08:12So, what happens in situations like this
08:17is now we go back
08:19and look at all the bad games.
08:22Oh, man.
08:23You know what I mean?
08:24There's a bunch of montage on it, dude.
08:25There's a bunch.
08:26I wonder if Charlotte knew
08:32that we should live in law.
08:35That is an interesting question.
08:37That is an interesting question.
08:38I don't know.
08:39See, that's the one thing is,
08:40like, people are going to talk about
08:40the heat, salary implications,
08:42and all this.
08:44Because, keep in mind,
08:45you're innocent until proven guilty.
08:47being charged with something
08:50is not being convicted of something.
08:52So, until he's convicted,
08:55right,
08:56how can you...
08:57That money is still going to count.
08:58He's still going to get paid.
09:00Unless they give him
09:01a leave of absence.
09:03Barry Jackson said
09:03the NBA could rule him ineligible.
09:06That would be weird.
09:07That money still doesn't...
09:09Well, if you're ruling ineligible,
09:10it would come off the books.
09:11I don't know what it means
09:12for him getting paid,
09:13but the heat could get from people.
09:15As soon as the NBA made a ruling,
09:17is he going to the podium now?
09:18All right.
09:19Let's send it over to
09:20WPLGC with Cash Patel.
09:22All right.
09:47We made it on the grand stage of the NBA.
10:15But we also entered and executed
10:18a system of justice
10:20against Casa Nostra
10:22to include the Bonanno,
10:23Gambino,
10:24Genovese,
10:25and Luchesi crime families.
10:27And you'll hear more
10:28about those details today.
10:30The charges and the arrests
10:31that were taken down
10:32across the country
10:33ranged from wire fraud,
10:34money laundering,
10:35extortion,
10:35robbery,
10:36illegal gambling.
10:37This FBI will leave no room
10:39for any perpetrator
10:41of crime across this country.
10:43You hear a lot about our work
10:44of defending the homeland
10:46and crushing violent crime.
10:47Well, this work
10:48is also representative
10:49of a colossal portion
10:51of the FBI's mandate
10:52to keep America safe
10:53and to keep our entertainment industry
10:55fair and secure.
10:56The men and women
10:57that are standing up here today
10:58worked tireless hours,
11:01days,
11:01months,
11:02and years.
11:03And the fraud
11:04is mind-boggling.
11:05It's not hundreds of dollars.
11:07It's not thousands of dollars.
11:08It's not tens of thousands of dollars.
11:10It's not even millions of dollars.
11:12We're talking about
11:13tens of millions of dollars
11:14in fraud
11:15and theft
11:16and robbery
11:17across a multi-year investigation.
11:21And we could not have done it
11:22without our interagency partners
11:24that are before us today.
11:25The NYPD,
11:26HSI,
11:27and teams of law enforcement officials
11:29from around the country
11:30made this day possible.
11:32It takes a team
11:33to bring this kind of justice,
11:36sweeping justice,
11:37into the halls
11:37of the United States courtrooms
11:39where our brave United States attorney
11:41has led this prosecution.
11:43It takes courageous prosecutors
11:45to stand before you and say,
11:47we will not allow
11:48this kind of illicit activity
11:49to happen,
11:51not only at the national sporting level,
11:54but also where it hides
11:57in La Casa Nostra.
11:58And when these two collided together,
12:00they perpetrated a fraud
12:01that is historic
12:03in terms of not just money,
12:05but the scheme
12:06and the deceit
12:07that they utilize
12:08to steal
12:09and swindle people
12:10from money
12:11to include crypto fraud.
12:13This is an operation
12:15that showcases to you
12:16that under President Trump's administration,
12:18there is no room
12:19for any type
12:20of criminal behavior,
12:21be it on the world's largest stage
12:23or in the back rooms
12:25of tiny parlors
12:26where guard games
12:27are being played.
12:27We are proud
12:29to stand here today
12:30with the men and women
12:31of the FBI
12:32and this legal team.
12:34And to the United States attorney,
12:36I just want to thank you
12:37personally
12:38for taking the time
12:39to display the work
12:40that the media
12:42is about to hear about today
12:43in detail.
12:44As I said,
12:45it does take courageous prosecutors,
12:46but it takes a courageous
12:47United States attorney
12:48to bring this case
12:50because we are going
12:51to take heat for it.
12:52But we don't shy away
12:53in this administration.
12:54We don't say no.
12:55What we do
12:56is we bring the results
12:57across the finish line.
12:58We bring them to the public.
12:59We bring you accountability.
13:00And yes,
13:01they will have their day in court
13:02and you will hear the evidence
13:03through the court system exclusively.
13:05We will not deny anyone
13:06of due process.
13:08And that's the brilliance
13:08of this system.
13:09That's the brilliance
13:10of this administration.
13:11Everyone will be held to account.
13:13So with that,
13:14I turn it over
13:14to United States Attorney Nocella.
13:19Thank you, Director Patel.
13:20To be clear,
13:24we're announcing today
13:25indictments in two major cases,
13:29both involving fraud.
13:31One involves sports betting
13:32and the other involves
13:34illegal gambling,
13:35very specifically rigged poker games.
13:38The first indictment
13:40involves six defendants
13:42who are alleged
13:43to have participated
13:44in one of the most brazen
13:45sports corruption schemes
13:47since online sports betting
13:49became widely legalized
13:51in the United States.
13:53This scheme is an insider
13:54sports betting conspiracy
13:56that exploited
13:57confidential information
13:58about National Basketball Association
14:01athletes and teams.
14:04The second indictment
14:06involves 31 defendants
14:08alleged to have participated
14:10in a nationwide scheme
14:12to rig illegal poker games.
14:15These defendants,
14:18which include
14:18former professional athletes,
14:20used high-tech
14:21cheating technology
14:22to steal millions of dollars
14:24from victims
14:25in underground poker games
14:27that were secretly fixed.
14:30The games in the New York area
14:31were backed
14:32by the Bonanno, Gambino,
14:35and Genovese crime families
14:37of La Casa Nostra.
14:39While the cases are separate,
14:41there are three overlapping defendants
14:43charged in both cases.
14:45Damon Jones,
14:47Eric Ernest,
14:48and Shane Hennon.
14:50The indictments
14:51in these cases
14:52contain only allegations,
14:54and the defendants
14:55are presumed innocent
14:56until they are proven guilty
14:58in a court of law.
15:00But my message
15:01to the defendants
15:02who have been rounded up today
15:03is this.
15:04Your winning streak
15:06has ended.
15:07Your luck has run out.
15:10Violating the law
15:11is a losing proposition,
15:13and you can bet on that.
15:15First, I would like to talk
15:19about United States
15:20versus Ernest,
15:21the NBA basketball gambling case.
15:25The defendants in this case
15:27are Eric Ernest,
15:29Marvez Farley,
15:32Shane Hennon,
15:33De Niro Laster,
15:35Damon Jones,
15:36a former NBA player and coach,
15:38and Terry Rozier,
15:40a current NBA player.
15:43Other co-conspirators
15:45were previously charged
15:46for their roles
15:46in the scheme,
15:47including former NBA player
15:50Jonte Porter.
15:52Between December 2022
15:54and March 2024,
15:57these defendants
15:58perpetrated a scheme
15:59to defraud
16:01by betting on inside
16:02non-public information
16:04about NBA athletes
16:06and teams.
16:08The non-public information
16:09included when
16:10specific players
16:11would be sitting out
16:12future games
16:13or when they would
16:14pull themselves out early
16:16for purported injuries
16:17or illnesses.
16:19They relied on
16:20corrupt individuals,
16:21including Jones
16:22and Rozier.
16:23They also misused
16:25information obtained
16:26through long-standing
16:27friendships that they
16:28had with NBA players
16:30and coaches.
16:32And in at least
16:32one instance,
16:34they got their information
16:35by threatening
16:36a current player,
16:38Porter,
16:38because of his
16:39pre-existing gambling debts.
16:42Defendants used
16:42this non-public information
16:44to place hundreds
16:45of thousands of dollars
16:46in fraudulent bets,
16:48mostly in the form
16:49of prop bets
16:50on individual player
16:52performance.
16:53The bets were placed
16:55through online sports books
16:56and also in person
16:58at casinos.
16:59The defendants relied
17:01on a network
17:02of straw bettors
17:03to place the maximum
17:04amount of bets
17:06to increase
17:07their potential profits.
17:09Most of these bets
17:10succeeded,
17:11and the intended losses
17:13were in the millions
17:14of dollars.
17:16The defendants then
17:17laundered their illegal
17:19winnings in various ways,
17:21peer-to-peer platforms,
17:23bank wires,
17:24and simple cash exchanges.
17:27The indictment details
17:29specific examples
17:30where the defendants
17:32profited from illegal
17:33gambling and illegal
17:35betting on various NBA games
17:37about the performance
17:38of players on,
17:39among other things,
17:41the Charlotte Hornets,
17:42the Portland Trailblazers,
17:44the Los Angeles Lakers,
17:46and the Toronto Rangers.
17:48Each defendant in the NBA
17:50basketball gambling case
17:51has been charged
17:52with conspiracy
17:53to commit wire fraud
17:55and conspiracy
17:56to commit money laundering.
17:57Now, I would like to turn
18:02to the other case,
18:03United States
18:04versus Aiello,
18:05the rigged poker game case.
18:08Beginning as early
18:09as 2019,
18:12the defendants
18:13in this case
18:13orchestrated a scheme
18:15to use
18:16wireless cheating technology
18:18to run
18:19rigged poker games
18:21across the United States,
18:23including in the Hamptons,
18:24Las Vegas,
18:26Miami,
18:27and Manhattan.
18:29The scheme
18:30targeted victims
18:31known as,
18:32quote,
18:33Fish,
18:34who were often
18:35lured to participate
18:36in these rigged games
18:38by the chance
18:39to play alongside
18:41former professional athletes
18:43who were known as,
18:44quote,
18:45Face Cards.
18:47The so-called
18:48Face Cards
18:49included the defendant,
18:51Chauncey Billups,
18:52who at the time
18:53of the scheme
18:54was a former
18:55NBA player
18:55and is currently
18:57the head coach
18:58of the Portland Trailblazers
18:59and also Damon Jones,
19:02a former NBA player
19:04and coach.
19:05What the victims,
19:07the Fish,
19:08didn't know
19:09is that everybody else
19:10at the poker game,
19:12from the dealer
19:13to the players,
19:14including the Face Cards,
19:16were in on the scam.
19:18Once the game
19:19was underway,
19:21the defendants
19:21fleeced the victims
19:22out of tens
19:23or hundreds
19:24or hundreds
19:24of thousands
19:24of dollars
19:25per game.
19:27The defendants
19:28used a variety
19:29of very sophisticated
19:30cheating technologies,
19:32some of which
19:33were provided
19:34by other defendants
19:36in exchange
19:36for a share
19:37of the profits
19:38from the scheme.
19:39For example,
19:41they used
19:42off-the-shelf
19:43shuffling machines
19:44that had been
19:45secretly altered
19:46in order to
19:48read the cards
19:49in the deck,
19:50predict which player
19:51at the table
19:52had the best poker hand,
19:54and relay that information
19:55to an off-site operator.
19:59The off-site operator
20:01sent the information
20:04via cell phone
20:05back to a co-conspirator
20:07at the table.
20:08I think we're going to cut in
20:09from there.
20:09That was Joseph Nacella Jr.,
20:13the U.S. Attorney
20:14of the Eastern District
20:14of New York.
20:17Yikes.
20:18Yikes, dude.
20:19Like, what we thought.
20:21What we thought.
20:24I mean,
20:25we've got
20:26the Godfather situation
20:28going here.
20:29Dude,
20:29this is crazy.
20:31Not just one,
20:32all the crime families.
20:34All of them.
20:35All of them.
20:36All right,
20:36we're going to take a break.
20:37We've got to get set
20:38on the commercials
20:38and whatnot.
20:39But we'll get our
20:40whole reaction to this.
20:42And obviously,
20:43you heard there,
20:44Terry Rozier,
20:45among six defendants
20:47in an indictment there
20:48for sports gambling
20:49that spanned millions
20:52of dollars in losses.
20:53He,
20:53along with Damon Jones
20:54and other individuals
20:55allegedly involved
20:57in all of this.
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