The stakes couldn't be higher in this explosive scandal. Join us as we dive into the FBI's investigation of an alleged illegal gambling operation connecting NBA figures with organized crime families. From sophisticated poker schemes to insider betting using confidential team information, this scandal threatens to shake professional basketball to its core.
00:00We are back on Get Up Live in New York with major breaking news as we've touched on early this morning from the NBA involving not one but two arrests of notable people within the NBA.
00:11Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're breaking down the evolving scandal surrounding an alleged illegal gambling operation involving high profile athletes, organized crime families and rigged bets.
00:21What we do is we bring the results across the finish line. We bring them to the public. We bring you accountability. And yes, they will have their day in court and you will hear the evidence through the court system exclusively.
00:32The allegations. The scandal first came to light via a sweeping crackdown by law enforcement led by the FBI on two intertwined schemes.
00:41One involving insider sports betting on professional athletes and another involving rigged high stakes poker games.
00:47But as you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today.
00:54Former, current NBA players and coaches.
00:57What you don't know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years.
01:05Authorities allege that defendants used non-public information about player injuries, team strategies and performance data to place prop bets on games, giving them an unfair edge.
01:14Between December 2022 and March 2024, these defendants perpetrated a scheme to defraud by betting on inside, non-public information about NBA athletes and teams.
01:29Of course, this isn't the first time professional basketball has faced a scandal involving gambling.
01:34In 2007, referee Tim Donahue was found betting on games he officiated, raising questions about integrity that still resonate today.
01:41On the other side, the poker scheme is alleged to have been manipulated using high-tech cheating tools, including special contact lenses to read pre-marked cards, modified card shuffling machines, and even an x-ray poker table capable of revealing hidden cards.
01:55Sal, an x-ray table, card reading chip trays, rigged shuffling machines. I didn't know this stuff existed. I guess I'm not surprised, but I didn't know it existed.
02:05Victims believed they were playing fair games, but prosecutors say the entire setup was designed to exploit them.
02:10Investigators described this as a multi-year operation, spanning from at least 2019 through early 2024 in various cities.
02:17The poker games reportedly defrauded players of about $7.15 million in total.
02:23Laura, we're talking about a lot of cash here.
02:25And Tom, the poker scheme alone raked in so much cash that the victims suffered $7.1 million in losses.
02:32One victim alone, $1.8 million in losses. A huge amount of cash.
02:36Meanwhile, on the sports betting side, some bets exceeded $200,000 per individual event.
02:42Over 30 individuals in 11 states is a monstrous thing.
02:46Never have we had a sitting head coach be involved in something like this.
02:53I think it's a stain on the NBA.
02:55At the center of this scandal are a mix of former or current professional athletes, coaches, and associates linked to powerful crime syndicates.
03:04Those alleged to be involved and arrested include Chauncey Billups, currently the head coach of the Portland Trailblazers,
03:10Terry Rozier, a guard for the Miami Heat who formerly played for the Charlotte Hornets and earlier the Boston Celtics,
03:16and Damon Jones, a former NBA player who notably played for the Cleveland Cavaliers among many teams.
03:22On the organized crime side, the case implicates members and associates from major Italian-American crime families,
03:28such as the Bonanno crime family, Gambino crime family, and Genovese crime family.
03:33Together, these individuals are alleged to have collaborated to run the gambling operations
03:37and launder the proceeds through both traditional finance and cryptocurrency.
03:41I would love that I could see a table. I mean, this is a movie script.
03:46All of a sudden, get Matt Damon on. Let's see if we can talk to him about Rounders 2.
03:51Evidence and emerging revelations
03:53Federal agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working alongside prosecuting attorneys
03:58and other federal law enforcement partners, collected a substantial body of evidence that unveils a deeply orchestrated scheme.
04:05They used custom shuffling machines that could read the order of cards,
04:09bar-coded decks, and hidden cameras built into tables and light fixtures.
04:14Court documents showing one of those shufflers disassembled,
04:18and this poker table taking x-rays to reveal cards face down.
04:22The evidence includes internal communications, confidential team memos, medical or coaching documents,
04:28and witness testimony from both participants and invitees to the high-stakes poker games.
04:33The proceeds were later delivered to his home, where the group counted their cash.
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