NBA Coach Billups Pleads Innocent To Mafia-linked Gambling

Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested in connection with rigged prohibited poker games


Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty Monday to declared participation in Mafia-linked illegal gaming schemes that rocked the NBA, prosecutors stated.


Billups, a previous Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was detained in connection with rigged prohibited poker games tied to Mafia crime families.


He was targeted in addition to Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led investigation into the fraud that apparently saw players cheated with the usage of advanced methods including an X-ray table and barcoded card decks.


Dozens of other suspects were jailed as part of the FBI probe.


Rozier and Billups were put on indefinite leave by the NBA after being jailed in the gaming examination.


Rozier and a former NBA player and assistant coach, Damon Jones, were among 6 people apprehended in a separate sports betting case.


Billups was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire scams and money laundering, to which he pleaded not guilty Monday, the Eastern District of New York prosecutors' office validated to AFP.


Billups was released on bond after at first appearing in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and was represented by attorney Marc Mukasey at a brief hearing in a Brooklyn court on Monday.


Billups will now sign a $5 million bond in the Eastern District of New York for his pre-trial release, prosecutors added.


Prosecutors state Billups's celebrity helped tempt gamers to high-stakes games that used "state-of-the-art cheating technology."


That tech consisted of shuffling machines that could read cards, hidden video cameras and barcoded decks.


NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last month he was "deeply disturbed" by the probe into unlawful gaming.


"My preliminary response was I was deeply disturbed," Silver stated in an interview with Amazon Prime.


"There's nothing more crucial for the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition."


Silver revealed remorse that the accusations had taken attention away from the start of the season.


"I ask forgiveness to our fans that we are all dealing with, now, this scenario," Silver said.