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Two former NBA players turned coaches, one of whom is a Hall of Famer, were arrested Thursday after their alleged involvement in a rigged poker scheme that also included members of the La Cosa Nostra crime families as defendants.
Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones, the latter also charged in the sports betting case with Terry Rozier, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The two are alleged to have knowingly participated in rigged poker games, dubbed “face cards,” who the Justice Department said were “members of the cheating teams and received a share of the criminal proceeds in exchange for their participation in the scheme.”
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Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones were arrested Thursday as part of an illegal poker scheme. (Vincent Carchietta/Imagn Images; Bill Frakes/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“Billups and Jones, in particular…were used to lure victims to the games due to their status as former professional athletes,” the Justice Department said.
The scheme resulted in victims losing at least $7.15 million since April 2019, according to the Department of Justice.
However, with successful careers in the NBA, both playing and off, one might wonder what could lead them to allegedly become embroiled in such schemes.
“Well, they take risks. Athletes like it, they have a lot of adrenaline,” speculated Meyer Lansky II, grandson of the famous mobster, in a recent interview on Pak Gazette Digital. “They think that not only can they have millions for a team to pay them, but they can also win more from their bets. Or they have a betting addiction. There are a lot of people like that. They just want to be involved with it. Maybe they like the affiliation with the people who are in charge of it, or behind those betting situations and setups again.”
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups watches from the sideline during the first half against the San Antonio Spurs at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, on April 6, 2025. (Soobum Im/Image Images)
WHO ARE CHAUNCEY BILLUPS, TERRY ROZIER AND DAMON JONES? NBA SUBJECTS ARRESTED IN ILLEGAL GAMBLING INVESTIGATION
Lansky II added that there is a potential sense of power on the part of the athletes themselves.
“I think anyone who receives an extraordinary amount of money and has a lot of fans behind them, yes, they can get to the point where they just go blind and think, ‘Nothing can happen to me. Why don’t I do this?’ I think with any experience, not just sports. It’s a powerful thing. “Money, power and fame sometimes take over,” he said.
As for the mafia, “sports was always a big thing,” according to Lansky II.
“It was pretty easy to fix. It’s always been beneficial…” he said. “Yeah, I think it’s pretty easy to access that. You can do it because if you’re in the casinos, you have surveillance and people watching, and that’s a lot riskier than it would be for sports betting.”
With the legalization of gambling across the country, it is much easier for athletes to engage in damaging the integrity of the game. However, Lansky II believes that illegal ties and schemes will always occur for multiple reasons.
Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups leaves the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Court following a hearing following his arrest on federal gambling charges in Portland, Oregon, U.S., on Oct. 23, 2025. (John Rudoff/Reuters)
“Protection: You don’t have to come up with the initial money, you place it with a bookie a lot of times. They will come after you if you don’t pay, but you know, for reasons like that, they have a lot of control and a lot of power. They have different ways of doing things with someone. They themselves are influential when they talk to maybe to player. There is an affiliation with the mafia and famous people and athletes, sometimes they like that connection. It gives them something. It is a strong entity in our society, and that is one of the reasons. They trust them too.”
Lansky II will release a book, “The Lansky Legacy,” on Tuesday, which he co-authored and tells “the truth” about his grandfather and rejects “many misconceptions” about him.
