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The first prison sentence has been handed down in connection with the wide-ranging NBA betting scandal that rocked the sport in the fall.
Timothy McCormack was sentenced by a federal judge in New York on Wednesday to two years in prison, according to ESPN.
“I have struggled with gambling addiction for more than half my life,” McCormack said at his sentencing.
McCormack was accused of defrauding sports betting platforms by using non-public information to place highly profitable bets tied to the performance of NBA players allegedly involved in the scheme.
“He has an addiction,” said federal judge DeArcy Hall. “I don’t think Mr. McCormack’s conduct defines him.”
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Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI New York Field Office Christopher Raia speaks as FBI Director Kash Patel listens during a news conference on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
McCormack participated in the scheme that allegedly involved former NBA players Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones.
Documents released by the FBI allege that the conspirators used a card-shuffling machine that used hidden technology to read the cards in the deck and predict which player at the table had the best hand, and transmitted that information over interstate cables to an outside operator.
According to the documents, that operator allegedly communicated that information to a lead conspirator at the poker table, who used signals to transmit the information to other conspirators at the table.
The FBI documents also allege that cheating players used other technology, including electronic chip trays that could secretly read cards placed on the table, card analyzers that could also detect which cards were on the table, and invisible marks placed on cards that could only be seen with the aid of specially designed contact lenses or glasses.
FINANCE PROFESSOR ASKS HOW NBA FIGURES ENTERED INTO ILLEGAL GAMBLING LINKS DESPITE MILLIONS IN FORTUNE
Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were arrested for their alleged involvement in illegal gambling. (Jaime Valdez/Imagn Images, Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Greg Nelson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Joseph Nocella Jr. called it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States,” and detailed the type of technology used at a news conference in October.
“They used commercially available shuffling machines that had been secretly altered to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand, and transmit that information to an outside operator,” Nocella said.
“The defendants used other cheating technologies, such as poker chip tray analyzers, which are a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera, special contact lenses or glasses that can read pre-marked cards, and an x-ray table that can read cards face down on the table.”
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FBI Director Kash Patel speaks at a news conference to announce the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in connection with a federal investigation into sports betting and illegal betting, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Billups and Jones were allegedly used as celebrity figures to attract competitors to supposedly rigged poker games.
The Justice Department said that in April 2019, Billups was one of five defendants who “arranged and participated in rigged poker games” in Las Vegas “using a rigged shuffling machine” and the victims lost at least $50,000. One of the defendants sent a text message to another accomplice telling him that Billups should lose a hand on purpose to avoid suspicions of cheating.
