By Jack Queen
(Reuters) -Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups is due in Brooklyn federal court on Monday to enter a plea in a sweeping criminal case accusing the NBA Hall of Famer of conspiring with the mafia to rig illicit poker games.
The arraignment is set to take place during a hearing for all 31 defendants in the case. Prosecutors say they orchestrated an elaborate scheme using pro athletes’ star power to lure victims to card games then cheat them using high-tech equipment.
Billups is charged with fraud and money laundering conspiracy. He has denied wrongdoing through his attorneys.
Former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones was also charged in the case, along with alleged members of New York’s La Cosa Nostra organized crime families. They have all pleaded not guilty.
The case is related to a criminal probe of alleged bet-rigging by pro athletes, which coincides with the explosion of legal sports betting in the U.S. in recent years.
The charges against Billups were unveiled in October alongside a related case charging Jones and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier with using insider knowledge to rig bets on NBA games between 2022 and 2024. Jones and Rozier have pleaded not guilty.
In the poker case, prosecutors say Billups and other pro athletes enticed victims into games against cheaters who used X-ray card tables and altered shuffling machines to learn the cards in victims’ hands.
The alleged scheme dates to 2019 and defrauded victims of at least $7 million, according to prosecutors, who say members of the conspiracy used violence and extortion to collect on debts incurred by victims.
Billups, 49, is in his fifth year as Portland’s head coach but is currently suspended. He played for seven teams during his NBA career and won a championship with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.
Earlier this month, Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz with fraud and money laundering for allegedly rigging bets on their pitches during MLB games.
They have pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing through their attorneys.
(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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