ORLANDO — A federal gambling investigation more than a year in the making has resulted in the arrest of Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, who was taken into custody early Thursday morning at the Orlando hotel where the team was staying during their season-opening road trip.
Rozier and 33 other people across the country were arrested in the probe, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former Cleveland Cavaliers assistant coach Damon Jones, also a former Heat player, according to the FBI.
The FBI said some of the schemes had mafia involvement.
Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information, federal officials said. Billups is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games, authorities said. Each has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Jones is accused of participating in both schemes.
FBI Director Kash Patel and other law enforcement officials said the investigation involves four of the country’s five leading mafia families and organized crime networks and “mind-boggling” amounts of fraud.
“We’re talking tens of millions of dollars,” Patel said. “They perpetrated a fraud that is historic.”
Rozier, who lives in Southwest Ranches, was at a downtown Orlando hotel with the team at the time he was taken into custody. He was arrested in what was called “Operation Nothing But Bet.”
After Rozier’s arrest, attorney James Trusty, of Ifrah Law PLLC, released a statement that read: “We have represented Terry Rozier for over a year. A long time ago we reached out to these prosecutors to tell them we should have an open line of communication. They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel.
“It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender they opted for a photo op. They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case. They appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella, said the Rozier aspect of the investigations is part of “an insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information about NBA athletes and teams.”
Nocella said the alleged Rozier-related scheme involved “purported injuries or illnesses.” At the Department of Justice news conference, Rozier was referred to as “a corrupt individual.”
Rozier, 31, has been under investigation as part of a probe related to unusual betting patterns in a 2023 game, before his January 2024 trade to the Heat.
In one instance in the indictment, Rozier, while playing for the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, is accused of telling people he was planning to leave the game early with a supposed injury, allowing gamblers to place wagers earning them tens of thousands of dollars, authorities said. That game against the New Orleans Pelicans raised eyebrows at the time. Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of the game before leaving, citing a foot issue. He did not play again that season.
According to Nocella, bets on other games involving the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Trail Blazers also drew the scrutiny of federal officials.
Billups and Rozier have been placed on leave from their teams, according to the NBA, which said it is cooperating with authorities.
“We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” the NBA said in a statement.
The National Basketball Players Association, which represents Rozier, followed with a statement reading: “The integrity of the game is paramount to NBA players, but so is the presumption of innocence, and both are hindered when player popularity is misused to gain attention. We will ensure our members are protected and afforded their due process rights through this process.“
On Thursday, Rozier, wearing a black Charlotte Hornets hoodie, was ushered into a federal courtroom in Orlando. Magistrate Judge Robert Norway read his charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit laundering, which each carry a maximum 20-year prison sentence and together mean he could face $750,000 in fines. Rozier did not enter a plea and has another hearing scheduled in New York on Dec.8.
US Attorney Diane Hu pushed for a $10 million bond, citing Rozier’s $20 million NBA salary, plus millions of dollars in other assets, including his Florida home, jewelry and vehicles. Instead, Norway ordered his home, which prosecutors said is valued at about $6 million, be placed as collateral in exchange for his release.
Norway declined to specify the location of the house, but Broward County property records show Rozier owns a house in Southwest Ranches with a market value of $5.3 million.
Additionally, Norway ordered Rozier to surrender his passport by Friday afternoon. He also issued an order of no-contact with his indicted co-conspirators.
Trusty derided the NBA player’s arrest both to Norway and to reporters outside the courthouse. Trust said Rozier, whose mother looked on from the courtroom gallery, had been cooperating with authorities as a subject — rather than a target — of the investigation into illegal gambling.
After his release, Rozier did not appear before the reporters waiting outside the courthouse and seemed to have been spirited away through another exit. His mother did not answer reporters’ questions.
According to federal documents, the poker scheme cheated at least $7 million out of unsuspecting gamblers who were lured into rigged games with the chance to compete against former professional basketball players like Billups and Jones. The games were fixed using sophisticated cheating technology, such as altered card-shuffling machines, hidden cameras in poker chip trays, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table to read the cards of unsuspecting players, authorities allege.
Rozier is not accused of any involvement in the poker schemes, but the long investigation has hung over him.
The uncertainty over Rozier’s status reached the point that Rozier appeared confused when told during an interview with sports reporters on Sunday that he had been cleared to return from his preseason hamstring injury, with Rozier initially believing the word “cleared” was being used in regard to the FBI investigation.
Rozier is in the final year of a contract that pays him $26.6 million for the coming season. If Rozier were to be ruled ineligible by the NBA, his remaining salary at the time of such an NBA ruling would be wiped from the Heat’s salary cap, luxury tax and tax aprons. The Heat currently are operating slightly below the NBA’s punitive luxury tax. The excising of Rozier’s contract would allow the Heat to sign two replacement players without an impact against the NBA luxury tax.
Rozier struggled on the court with the Heat last season to the point where he lost his starting role and eventually his rotation role. With the Heat re-signing guard Davion Mitchell ahead of free agency and selecting Illinois guard Kasparas Jakucionis in last month’s NBA draft, the prospects for Rozier earning playing time this season were limited, should he remain NBA eligible. He did not play in Wednesday night’s season-opening loss to the Magic at Kia Center.
Orlando Sentinel reporter Cristobal Reyes and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Originally Published: October 23, 2025 at 8:06 AM EDT