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Denver’s own Chauncey Billups, currently the head coach of the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers, has been arrested for his alleged role in illegal rigged poker games that were set up by influential crime families in the mafia.
Billups — a Basketball Hall-of-Famer who grew up in Denver before playing for the University of Colorado and, eventually, the Denver Nuggets — was caught up in a federal investigation into illegal gambling, according to multiple national news outlets. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones were also arrested as part of the investigation.
A five-time NBA All-Star and MVP of the 2004 NBA Finals, Billups grew up in east Denver and attended George Washington High School. Often referred to locally as the “Pride of Park Hill,” Billups played at CU Boulder from 1995 to 1997, before being drafted by the Boston Celtics. The 6’3″ point guard bounced around the league, even briefly playing for the Nuggets as he struggled to find his form, until landing with the Detroit Pistons, where he won a championship and became a mainstay in the playoffs. Billups was traded back to the Nuggets in 2008, pairing up with Carmelo Anthony to take the Nuggets to a Western Conference Finals appearance.
Billups spent a few years coaching after retiring in 2014, and was hired in 2021 by the Trailblazers. On October 22, he was coaching on the sidelines as the Trailblazers lost to the Timberwolves for the team’s first game of the season. According to law enforcement, he was arrested in Portland that night.
The charges against Billups reportedly involve high-stakes poker games. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Billups participated as a “face guard,” or a retired professional athlete who would attract players to rigged games. He is accused of knowingly helping fleece tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars per game. The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that these games were set up by the Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Luchese crime families, and took place in the Hamptons, Las Vegas, Manhattan and Miami.
Another investigation into inside betting on NBA games includes a “former NBA player and coach” among other current and former players, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but they have not been named.
Following a 2018 United States Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized online sports gambling, America’s professional sports leagues have seen a handful of controversies involving players, ex-players and coaches. In 2024, Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter, brother of then-Denver Nugget Michael Porter, was banned from the NBA for tipping off gambling associates about his personal stat lines before games.
Watch this morning’s press conference announcing the case below.
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