FBI Director reveals Billups, Rozier arrested in gambling investigation
FBI Director Kash Patel details investigation which has lead to the arrest of over 30 people in relation to an illegal gambling scheme.
Former NBA player and coach Damon Jones was arrested in a federal investigation into illegal sports betting.Jones, along with Terry Rozier, allegedly passed non-public information to bettors for profit.He is also accused of participating in a rigged high-stakes poker game with Chauncey Billups.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Damon Jones, who spent two stints playing with the Milwaukee Bucks and went on to become an assistant coach for Cleveland Cavaliers, was one of the high-profile arrests Oct. 23 as part of a federal grand jury investigation into illegal sports betting.
The FBI arrested Jones as well as Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an investigation split across two cases. Billups allegedly took part in an illegal high-stakes poker game that involved organized crime figures, while Rozier was arrested in connection with a sports betting ring involving NBA players. Jones is allegedly part of both cases.
According to ABC News, Jones and Rozier “allegedly passed inside information to four co-defendants, who are accused of passing the information to a network of sports bettors. … Those bettors allegedly placed wagers with online sports books or retail betting outlets, which prohibit betting based on nonpublic information.”
Jones hasn’t played in the NBA since 2008-09, when he saw limited action in 18 games for the Bucks. He previously spent the 2003-04 season with the team, playing in all 84 games and averaging 7.0 points per game. He played 11 years overall in the NBA before a second chapter in coaching; he was an assistant in Cleveland from 2016 through 2018.
During a news conference, FBI director Kash Patel characterized the situation as “an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years.”
A 23-page indictment linked to sports betting, which was unsealed Oct. 23, said Jones and others “participated in a scheme to defraud the Betting Companies by providing, obtaining and using non-public information relating to NBA games to place and cause others to place fraudulent sports wagers for profit, and to launder” their winnings.
It also said Jones provided non-public injury information about the status of two players in NBA games. Those players may have been LeBron James and Anthony Davis, based on public injury information USA TODAY Sports reviewed from the dates of those games.
For example, on Feb. 9, 2023, the Los Angeles Lakers played the Milwaukee Bucks.
According to the indictment, Jones sent a text message to someone identified as “co-conspirator 9” the morning of Feb. 9, which read, “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out! [Player 3] is out tonight. Bet enough so Djones can eat to [sic] now!!!”
The indictment identified Player 3 as “a prominent NBA player.”
James did not play in that game, and the Lakers lost 106-115 to the Bucks.
Jones also was named in the indictment linked to illegal poker games, which said that beginning in at least 2019, Jones and other defendants “engaged in a complex fraud scheme to rig, or cheat at, illegal poker games” in New York and around the United States.
The indictment said Billups and Jones were both “Face Cards,” who were described as “well-known former professional athletes” who participated in the rigged poker scheme.
“The Face Cards were members of the Cheating Teams and received a portion of the criminal proceeds in exchange for their participation in the Scheme,” prosecutors wrote.