How Chauncey Billups allegedly served as a “face card” in an illegal gambling ring

Federal prosecutors allege that Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones served as “face cards” for… Luring victims into rigged poker games Which took place in four different cities in the United States.

Billups, the Basketball Hall of Fame and Trail Blazers coach, and Jones, a former NBA player and assistant coach, were allegedly used to lure the victims, who were described as “fish” during a news conference on Thursday in which he announced the… Earth-shattering and “historic” indictments. Related to the FBI’s sports betting and poker investigation.

“What the victims, ‘the fish,’ did not know is that everyone else in the poker game, from the dealer to the players, including the ‘face cards,’ was involved in the scam,” Joseph Nocella Jr., US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said during the press conference. “Once the game began, the defendants stole tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars from the victims per game.”

Poker games were held in the Hamptons, Miami, Las Vegas and Manhattan with prosecutors in attendance The defendants allegedly used counterfeit card shuffling machines “It was secretly modified in order to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table has the best poker hand and relay that information to an off-site operator,” Nocella said.

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The information was then sent to a person at the table, called the “quarterback,” who passed the information on to others at the poker table, Nocella explained.

Federal prosecutors allege that the gambling ring also used “poker chip tray analyzers” to secretly read cards using a hidden camera, contact lenses or glasses that were able to read “pre-marked cards” and used an “x-ray table,” which was able to read cards that were face down on the poker table.

Billups was allegedly one of five defendants who organized and participated in rigged poker games in Las Vegas.

“Victims were lured into playing alongside well-known professional athletes and coaches, like Chauncey Billups, only to be unwittingly duped by rigged mixing machines that tipped the odds in their favor,” said Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI New York Field Office Christopher J. Raya.

“This alleged scheme has wreaked havoc across the country, exploiting the reputations of some and the wallets of many to fund Italian crime families here in New York.”

The shocking arrests and indictments related to alleged poker and gambling schemes have rocked the NBA world, including Billups and current NBA player Terry Rozier, who allegedly carried them out. He took himself out of the 2023 game To help someone win a bet. Both were placed on leave From the league on Thursday.