Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court in Brooklyn to charges of conspiring to fix bets on his performance in NBA games, in a case stemming from a broader gambling investigation involving professional basketball players and the Mafia.
Rozier pleaded not guilty before Judge Clay H. Kaminski to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The pleas came ahead of a court hearing later Monday for Rozier and his five co-defendants, including former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones, who previously pleaded not guilty.
The case is one of the latest in which athletes have been accused of fixing bets on their performances, raising concerns about the integrity of professional sports amid an explosion of legalized sports betting in the US in recent years.
Jones is also charged in a related case against NBA Hall of Famer and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups. They were accused of conspiring with mob associates to set up illegal poker games. Jones and Billups have pleaded not guilty, along with their 29 co-defendants.
The bet-fixing scheme ran from 2022 to 2024 and involved hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fraudulent bets, prosecutors said in the indictment.
Rozier and Jones are accused of passing inside information obtained from NBA players and coaches to a network of bookmakers who used them to place bets through online and retail bookmakers.
In one instance cited by prosecutors, Rozier is accused of tipping off accomplices that he planned to leave a game early in March 2023 due to injury, allowing them to cash in on bets that he would appear below his projected stat lines.
Jones is accused of trading inside information such as lineup decisions and undisclosed medical diagnoses for players, including unidentified Los Angeles Lakers stars in 2023 and 2024.
Other non-player defendants in the case are accused of rigging bets on Toronto Raptors wing Jontay Porter, who pleaded guilty to criminal conspiracy for his role in the sports gambling scandal that earned him a lifetime ban from the NBA.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
