NBA player and coach among 30 held in US gambling inquiry

The professional basketball stars Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups were among more than 30 people arrested in the US yesterday in connection with a sweeping federal inquiry into illegal gambling relating to the NBA, authorities announced.

- Anna Betts

"Today, we are here in New York to announce a historic arrest across a wide sweeping criminal enterprise," the FBI director, Kash Patel, said yesterday unveiling the charges. “This is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years.”

Federal prosecutors unsealed two indictments yesterday, and announced that they had arrested “over 30 individuals” across multiple states as part of a federal investigation into “sports rigging” and illegal gambling operations that authorities say involved the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime families.

Patel said defendants are facing charges ranging from wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery and illegal gambling

“The fraud is mind-boggling,” Patel said. “We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery.”

Joseph Nocella, the US attorney for the eastern district of New York, said the first indictment involves sports betting and six defendants involved in a sports betting scheme that “exploited confidential information about National Basketball Association athletes and teams”.