Portland Path Blazers head coach and Nationwide Basketball Affiliation Corridor of Famer Chauncey Billups pleaded not responsible on Monday in Brooklyn federal courtroom to prices he conspired to lure unsuspecting poker gamers to video games allegedly rigged by the Mafia.
“We enter a plea of not responsible,” protection lawyer Mark Mukasey mentioned.
Prosecutors mentioned Billups was one of many alleged scheme’s “face playing cards” who used his superstar to draw high-rollers to poker tables that have been geared up with X-ray expertise and altered shuffling machines. The poker video games have been backed by organized crime households, in response to the indictment, which was revealed Oct. 23.
Portland Path Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups arrives for his arraignment listening to at U.S. District Courtroom for the Jap District of New York, November 24, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photos
Billups was launched on a $5 million bond, secured by a house in Colorado.
Choose Ramon Reyes mentioned he intends for the trial to start in September 2026.
“Do no matter you need to do to get it able to go,” Reyes mentioned.
Billups, who spent 17 seasons within the NBA and was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, is one among 31 defendants charged within the scheme, all of whom are due in courtroom Monday. They’re dealing with numerous prices of wire fraud conspiracy and cash laundering conspiracy.
All 31 defendants appeared in courtroom on Monday.
“With respect to not less than some defendants, plea negotiations have begun,” one of many prosecutors, Michael Gibaldi, mentioned. He didn’t say which defendants would possibly choose to vary their plea to responsible and resolve their instances earlier than trial.
Federal prosecutors beforehand signaled that they count on quite a lot of the defendants will in the end choose to plead responsible.
“Though it’s too early for the federal government and any of the defendants to interact in substantial plea negotiations, the federal government and protection counsel for a number of defendants have begun productive discussions that the federal government hopes will in the end result in resolutions as to a number of defendants with out the necessity for a trial,” prosecutors wrote in a courtroom submitting forward of Monday’s standing convention.
Portland Path Blazers Coach Chauncey Billups arrives for his arraignment listening to at U.S. District Courtroom for the Jap District of New York, November 24, 2025 in New York Metropolis.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photos
The proof towards Billups and his codefendants, together with NBA coach Damon Jones, comes from digital gadgets, surveillance pictures, pole digital camera footage, financial institution information and cellphone information, prosecutors mentioned.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 08: Portland Path Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups seems to be on through the recreation towards the Golden State Warriors at Chase Heart on Oct. 8, 2025, in San Francisco, California. (Picture by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Photos)
Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Photos
Lower than every week after the costs towards Billups and others have been revealed, the NBA announced that it was endeavor a evaluation of how the league can shield itself from sports activities betting and whether or not it is doing sufficient to teach coaches, gamers and different personnel in regards to the “dire dangers” playing might pose to their careers, in response to an NBA league memo obtained by ABC Information.
Billups was instantly positioned on depart when the costs have been introduced, the NBA mentioned.
Editor’s notice: An earlier model of this story erroneously recognized Miami Warmth guard Terry Rozier as one of many co-defendants within the alleged poker scheme.
