US prosecutors outline 8 NBA games in wire fraud, conspiracy indictment

(Reuters) - An unsealed indictment alleges current and former NBA players and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were part of an illegal gambling ring using "inside information to profit" from illegal betting activity, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said Thursday.

Joseph Nocella Jr. said in Brooklyn that conspirators allegedly obtained insider information from several NBA players and coaches and shared it with a network of bettors organized to fleece legitimate sportsbooks.

Current Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Damon Jones, a former NBA player and assistant coach, were named among six conspirators and many more co-conspirators -- as Billups is listed -- are guilty of "falsely representing that their wagers complied with the betting companies' rules-which included, as relevant here, not betting on non-public information or using straw bettors-while concealing that their wagers were based on confidential team information."

The government prosecution of the case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Benjamin Weintraub, David Berman and Kaitlin Farrell.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 40 years -- 20 years for wire fraud conspiracy and 20 years for money laundering conspiracy.

Nocella and FBI director Kash Patel shared details of eight NBA games among the co-conspirators' activities alleged in the indictment.

According to the indictment, the six named defendants are Eric Earnest, also known as "Spook;" Marves Fairley, also known as "Vez," "Vezino," and "Vezino Locks", Shane Hennen, also known as "Sugar," Damon Jones, also known as "D Jones," and "Dee Jones," Deniro Laster, also known as "Niro," "Payso," and "Peso," and Terry Rozier, also known as "Scary Terry" and "Chum."

What follows is directly from the federal indictment as released by the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday:

March 23, 2023 - Charlotte Hornets Game

As alleged, Rozier, then an active player for the Hornets, tipped off longtime friend Laster that Rozier planned to leave the game early due to a purported injury. Rozier provided this information to Laster for the purpose of enabling Laster to place wagers based on this information. Laster, Fairley, and Hennen, among others, used that confidential information to place and direct more than $200,000 in wagers predicting Rozier's "under" statistics (i.e., that Rozier would underperform). Rozier exited the game after nine minutes, and many of the bets paid off, generating tens of thousands of dollars in profits. Laster collected the cash and drove through the night to Rozier's house, where together they counted the profits together.

March 24, 2023 - Portland Trail Blazers Game

As alleged, Earnest received, and then passed on, insider information from a longtime friend, an NBA coach at the time, that several of the Blazers' top players would sit out a game against the Chicago Bulls. Before that information became public, Fairley and his associates wagered over $100,000 against the Blazers. When the lineup change was later confirmed, betting lines shifted dramatically and the group's early bets yielded major winnings.

April 6, 2023 - Orlando Magic Game

As alleged, Fairley profited from a tip obtained through an inside connection to a then Orlando Magic player. A co-conspirator leveraged a relationship with the Magic player to learn that several of the team's top players would sit out a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers-information that had not yet been made public. The co-conspirator relayed the tip to Fairley, who placed an approximately $11,000 bet that the Cavaliers would outperform the point spread. When the lineup change was later confirmed and the Cavaliers went on to beat the Magic by 24 points, Fairley and the co-conspirator pocketed the winnings.

February 9, 2023 and January 15, 2024 - Los Angeles Lakers Games

As alleged, former NBA player and coach Jones shared and sold insider information on numerous occasions about undisclosed information relating to NBA games, such as lineup decisions and pre-release medical information, to his co-conspirators, who then placed significant wagers based on the tips. For example, on February 9, 2023 and January 15, 2024, respectively, Jones provided insider information to co-conspirators about pre-release medical information concerning star players on the Los Angeles Lakers for the purpose of enabling the co-conspirators to place wagers based on this information.

January 26, 2024 and March 20, 2024 - Toronto Raptors Games

As alleged, Jontay Porter, who was then an NBA player with the Toronto Raptors, informed co-conspirator Long Phi Pham and others that he would prematurely exit the games he was scheduled to play on January 26, 2024 and March 20, 2024, due to purported injuries. Porter agreed to exit the games early so that Pham and others could place bets on this non-public information. Pham, in turn, provided this information to Hennen, who also provided the information to Fairley.

Subsequently, Hennen placed bets on Porter's unders, or underperformance, in connection with the games through a network of straw bettors. When Porter exited both games early, numerous of the fraudulent wagers were successful.

Porter and Pham, among others, have previously pleaded guilty in connection with their participation in the scheme related to these two games.