NBA star Terry Rozier turns up to court in SHORTS and f…

NBA star Terry Rozier has been pictured leaving court in a hoodie and colorful shorts after being arrested as part of an FBI investigation into a Mafia-led gambling ring that spanned decades.

The NBA was plunged into chaos on Thursday – just two days into the new season – after the Feds launched a series of overnight arrests that saw Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups detained.

A few hours later, Miami Heat veteran Rozier appeared in federal court in Orlando, Florida. He was seen leaving the courthouse through a side door, having been released from custody following his arraignment.

The 31-year-old wore black and red sneakers, multi-colored shorts and a black Hornets hoodie as he climbed into the back of a black car, while his mother – Gina Tucker – and attorney – James Trusty – were also pictured at the courthouse. Billups is slated to appear in court later on Thursday.

According to NBCRozier walked out of court on Thursday after a judge denied prosecutors’ request to set a $10million bond. The NBA star was instead required to put up only his $6m Florida home as collateral. He must also surrender his passport by Friday afternoon, reports claim, while the judge ordered Rozier not to gamble either in person on online. He is due back in court in Brooklyn in December.

The NBA star’s attorney claimed during the initial hearing that Rozier is ‘a man who doesn’t gamble.’ Trusty later told reporters he believes the guard has a ‘great case.’

But FBI director Kash Patel earlier led a news conference in New York as stunning details were revealed about the cases, including the high-tech methods used by the Mafia to rig an illegal poker ring that Billups is allegedly involved in.

Former Cleveland Cavaliers player Damon Jones is another high-profile name among 34 arrests made in the FBI’s investigation, and he is alleged to be involved in both the poker investigation and a separate sports betting case.

Miami Heat star Rozier and former Cavaliers player and assistant coach Jones have been charged on suspicion of turning professional basketball into a criminal sports betting operation.

It is alleged that the teams whose games were affected by the sports gambling scheme are the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors, and Portland Trail Blazers.

According to the indictment, released on Thursday morning, Rozier and other defendants ‘had access to private information known by NBA players or NBA coaches’ that was likely to affect the outcome of games or players’ performances.

It is alleged they provided that information to other co-conspirators in exchange for either a flat fee or a share of the betting profits.

Rozier, 31, was detained at a hotel in Orlando, Floridawhere the Heat were defeated by the Magic on the road Wednesday evening, according to ESPN. Rozier did not play due to a coach’s decision.

Rozier’s arrest comes after sportsbooks in multiple states flagged suspicious betting activity on the player’s statistics ahead of the Charlotte Hornets-New Orleans Pelicans game on March 23, 2023.

The FBI alleges that Rozier told the defendants he was going to leave the game early, sparking a flurry of wages on the under for Rozier’s points, rebounds and assists. Sportsbooks consequently halted betting on the veteran, but it is alleged that over $200,000 of wagers were placed, resulting in tens of thousands of dollars in profits.

Rozier, who was suiting up for the Hornets at the time, would ultimately leave the game in less than 10 minutes of action due to what was described at the time as a ‘sore right foot.’ He had just five points, four rebounds, two assists, and a foul.

It is then alleged he counted the money with other defendants at his home. But on Thursday, his attorney denied that Rozier faked the injury, insisting he followed up with medics after the game.

‘He had a bunch of people that he appropriately confided in, and he had an injury, and he didn’t play another game,’ Trusty said, per NBC.

Meanwhile Trail Blazers coach Billups, 49, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last year, was arrested in a case linked to an illegal poker operation linked with the Mafia.

The poker operation is allegedly tied to the Gambino, Bonanno and Genovese crime families, and saw rigged games take place in Manhattan, the Hamptons and vegas.

In Thursday’s press conference, United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. outlined the breathtaking methods used by the group to rig games.

It is alleged that New York’s notorious crime families would use X-ray tables to tilt games in their favor and wear special high-tech contact lenses to read pre-marked cards.

He said in a press conference on Thursday: ‘The defendants used a variety of very sophisticated cheating technologies, some of which were provided by other defendants in exchange for a share of the profits from the scheme.

‘They used off the shelf shuffling machines that had been secretly altered in order to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand and relay that information to an off-site operator.

‘The off-side operator sent the information via cellphone back to a co-conspirator at the table, who was known as “the quarterback”, and they secretly signaled the information they had received to others at the table and together they used that information in order to win the games and cheat their victims.

‘Defendants used other cheating technologies, such as poker chip tray analyzers – which is a poker chip try that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera – special contact lenses or glasses that could read pre-marked cards and an X-ray table that could read cards faced down on the table.’

As for Rozier, the March 23, 2023 game was his final of the 2022-23 season with the Hornets, who traded him to the Heat in January 2024.

Rozier is in the final season of a four-year, $96.3million contract that he signed with the Hornets in 2021.

Jones, 49, is also alleged to have provided inside information about NBA games to co-defendants who are said to have used it to place sports bets.

He played for 10 NBA teams over an 11-year career from 1998 to 2009 and was a Cavaliers assistant from 2016 to 2018.

In the poker case, meanwhile, it is alleged that the scheme targeted victims who were lured to participate in rigged games that boasted the chance to play alongside former professional athletes, including Billups and Jones.

The FBI claims that the defendants robbed a victim at gunpoint to acquire a rigged shuffling machine.

It is also claimed that the investigation has been four years in the making, with victims losing at least $7m, with one specific victim down over $1.8m alone.

The FBI is currently in the process of reviewing thousands of hours of video evidence, and has already executed more than 24 search warrants.

Former Finals MVP Billups is in his fifth year leading the Trail Blazers and was on the sidelines for their season opening defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday.

Billups, the No. 3 overall pick in 1997, was a five-time All-Star during his 17-year career in the NBA. He led the Detroit Pistons to a championship in 2004.

It was reported in January that federal prosecutors were previously looking into claims that Rozier manipulated his performances.

However, the NBA said at the time that it did not find any violation committed by Rozier.

‘In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,’ NBA spokesman Mike Bass said earlier this year.

‘The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.’

The arrests follow the betting scandal involving former NBA player Jontay Porter, who was banned from the league in July 2024 for his role in a gambling scheme.

The former Toronto Raptors forward pleaded guilty last year to allegations he plotted with gamblers to impact betting outcomes in their favor.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in December. He had requested permission to travel abroad and play in Greece, but was denied by a federal judge in July 2024.

Echoing findings in an NBA investigation and allegations in an ongoing prosecution of other individuals, Porter acknowledged he agreed to withdraw early from games so that co-conspirators could win bets on his performance. He did it, he said, ‘to get out from under large gambling debts.’

Four men, including Porter, have pleaded guilty in the case. Two other men have been named as conspirators and have been in plea negotiations, according to ESPN.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that the league was working closely with sportsbooks to combat manipulation attempts by its players.

‘We’ve asked some of our partners to pull back some of the prop bets, especially when they’re on two-way players, guys who don’t have the same stake in the competition, where it’s too easy to manipulate something, which seems otherwise small and inconsequential to the overall score,’ Silver said during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.

‘We’re trying to put in place — learning as we go and working with the betting companies – some additional control to prevent some of that manipulation.’