NBA Coach Billups Pleads Innocent To Mafia-linked Gambling
Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was jailed in connection with rigged illegal poker video games
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty Monday to alleged involvement in Mafia-linked prohibited gaming schemes that rocked the NBA, district attorneys said.
Billups, a previous Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was detained in connection with rigged unlawful poker video games connected to Mafia criminal offense households.
He was targeted along with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led examination into the scam that apparently saw gamers cheated with using advanced approaches including an X-ray table and barcoded card decks.
Dozens of other suspects were detained as part of the FBI probe.
Rozier and Billups were put on indefinite leave by the NBA after being apprehended in the gambling investigation.
Rozier and a former NBA gamer and assistant coach, Damon Jones, were amongst 6 people arrested in a different sports wagering case.
Billups was prosecuted on charges of conspiracy to dedicate wire fraud and money laundering, to which he pleaded innocent Monday, the Eastern District of New York district attorneys' office verified to AFP.
Billups was released on bond after at first appearing in federal 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 for his pre-trial release, district attorneys included.
Prosecutors say Billups's star assisted entice gamers to high-stakes games that utilized "state-of-the-art unfaithful technology."
That tech included shuffling makers that might read cards, hidden cams and barcoded decks.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last month he was "deeply disturbed" by the far-ranging FBI probe into prohibited gambling.
"My initial reaction was I was deeply disturbed," Silver stated in an interview with Amazon Prime.
"There's nothing more crucial for the league and its fans than the stability of the competitors."
Silver expressed regret that the claims had taken attention away from the start of the season.
"I say sorry to our fans that we are all dealing with, now, this situation," Silver said.