NBA Coach Billups Pleads Innocent To Mafia-linked Gambling
Billups, a previous Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was apprehended in connection with rigged unlawful poker video games
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty Monday to declared participation in Mafia-linked prohibited gambling schemes that rocked the NBA, district attorneys said.
Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested in connection with rigged prohibited poker video games connected to Mafia criminal offense households.
He was targeted together with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led examination into the scam that presumably saw players cheated with the usage of sophisticated approaches including an X-ray table and barcoded card decks.
Dozens of other suspects were apprehended as part of the FBI probe.
Rozier and Billups were placed on indefinite leave by the NBA after being detained in the gambling investigation.
Rozier and a former NBA gamer and assistant coach, Damon Jones, were amongst six people arrested in a different sports betting case.
Billups was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, to which he pleaded innocent Monday, the Eastern District of New York district attorneys' office confirmed to AFP.
Billups was released on bond after initially appearing in court in Portland, Oregon, and was represented by lawyer Marc Mukasey at a brief hearing in a Brooklyn court on Monday.
Billups will now sign a $5 million bond in the Eastern District of New York City for his pre-trial release, prosecutors added.
Prosecutors say Billups's celebrity helped lure gamers to high-stakes games that utilized "state-of-the-art unfaithful technology."
That tech consisted of shuffling machines that could check out cards, concealed cams and barcoded decks.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last month he was "deeply disturbed" by the far-ranging FBI probe into unlawful gaming.
"My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed," Silver stated in an interview with Amazon Prime.
"There's absolutely nothing more crucial for the league and its fans than the integrity of the competitors."
Silver expressed remorse that the claims had actually taken attention far from the start of the season.
"I apologize to our fans that we are all handling, now, this scenario," Silver said.