Chauncey Billups, Heat’s Terry Rozier arrested in federal illegal betting investigation
Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones were arrested by the FBI Thursday morning as part of a wide-ranging federal grand jury investigation into illegal sports betting split into two cases, sources said. CBS News.
Rozier will be charged in connection with a sports betting ring involving current and former players, including some who allegedly faked injuries, while Billups is one of 31 people charged for allegedly participating in illegal, high-stakes poker games involving sports coaches and run by organized crime figures, sources told CBS News.
Rozier is among six people charged in the previous case ABC News.
FBI Director Kash Patel and other federal officials are expected to announce the arrests — ranging from illegal sports betting to poker schemes — at 10 a.m. ET in New York.
Rozier was arrested at a hotel in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday morning. The Heat were in town playing the Orlando Magic on Wednesday, a game in which Rozier did not participate by decision of the coach. Billups was arrested in Portland, Oregon, where the Blazers were between home games.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, appearing Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show,” called for additional sports betting regulations as a way to limit potential game-fixing.
“We’ve asked some of our partners to pull some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, people who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s very easy to rig something, which otherwise seems small and insignificant to the overall outcome,” said Silver, who was the first major U.S. sports commissioner to support sports betting legislation. “We are trying to provide – and learning as we go and working with betting companies – some additional controls to prevent some of this manipulation.”
Sportsbooks in multiple states were flagged for unusual betting activity regarding Rozier’s statistical props prior to the game between the Charlotte Hornets and New Orleans Hornets on March 23, 2023. Within 46 minutes, 30 bets from a professional sports bettor totaling $13,759 were on the bottom for Rozier’s points, rebounds and assists, causing Many sportsbooks are shutting down their sports betting. statistics.
Rozier, who was with the Hornets at the time, played only 10 minutes before leaving the game with a foot injury.
Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, previously told ESPN that Rozier met with the FBI and NBA officials on multiple occasions in 2023 when the initial investigation began. Rozier maintained his innocence in connection with the case, before being cleared by the NBA.
“The NBA conducted an investigation and found no violation of NBA rules,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in January 2025. “We are now aware of the investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York regarding this matter and are cooperating with that investigation.”
The FBI and NBA have been looking into former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter, who was banned from the NBA in 2024 for his role in a sports betting scandal that focused on his prop bets. Porter ended up pleading guilty to conspiracy charges. He is currently awaiting sentencing.
Porter and three other men have since pleaded guilty in the case.
Rozier never played for the Hornets again after the 2023 game; He was traded that season to the Heat in January 2024. The following season, he averaged 10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 64 games with Miami.