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Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones plans to plead guilty to sports gambling charges first brought by the Department of Justice last fall. Jones was accused of selling insider information to sports gamblers, including LeBron James’ game status, while he worked with the Los Angeles Lakers. Prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York charged Jones with two federal counts last October. He initially pleaded not guilty, but a lawyer for Jones confirmed that he intends to change his plea. Jones is the first of six defendants charged in the case to signal he will plead guilty. Former Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier is also facing charges from that same case and indictment.
An El Paso man pleaded guilty in federal court to seven counts of wire fraud as part of a Ponzi scheme on Friday, according to the Justice Department. Court documents said he falsely represented to use funds to promote NBA preseason games. 63-year-old Timothy France Johnson solicited investments from February 2009 to May 2020, according to court documents. Johnson falsely represented he would use the funds to obtain venues and fund marketing, the Justice Department reports.
Chauncey Billups was back in court Wednesday, along with multiple other defendants, for a status hearing in the federal case against an alleged poker-rigging scheme -- or Operation Royal Flush, as the Department of Justice announced in October. Billups, who was alleged to be a "face card" in the scheme, a well-known person used to attract players to rigged games, pleaded not guilty in November. On Wednesday, as he returned to court for an update on the case, his former backcourt-mate with the Detroit Pistons, Richard Hamilton, voiced his full support for Billups. "Chauncey's in a good place. We always have his back. Spoke to him multiple times," Hamilton told BetFTW and USA TODAY Sports. "So we're here to support him, but this ain't Chauncey. I know Chaunc. This ain't him. So, hopefully everything works out and everybody in the world realizes that Chauncey's one of the better people in this world."
Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier will return to court this week in Brooklyn as they and more than 30 other people indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice appear in front of federal judges for updates on their cases. Billups, a Basketball Hall of Famer, and Rozier, a Miami Heat guard, have seen their cases move slowly toward trials as their lawyers and federal prosecutors trade legal filings and discovery.
Jeffrey Epstein and Sixers co-owner Josh Harris had an ongoing business relationship that included numerous phone calls and at least one visit to Epstein’s home in Manhattan, according to emails released Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice. The emails do not contain any indication that Harris was involved with sexual misconduct.
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An Indianapolis man has been sentenced after flashing a machine gun in a crowded downtown area amid the 2025 NBA Finals. A'Jon Hall, 20, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to illegal possession of a machine gun, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
There were other teams mentioned in the federal charges for illegal betting activity around their games, including the Orlando Magic. According to the government, a “regularly starting player” for the Magic told a gambler that the team planned to “tank,” or sit its starters, in an April 2023 game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The gambler allegedly sold the information to other known bettors to place bets against the Magic. The Magic have not been contacted by the Department of Justice, a league source said, but the unnamed Orlando player named in the indictment is no longer on the team. The Magic’s statement, released when those sweeping charges were filed in October, said the player mentioned was believed to be out of the organization, and the NBA approved the team’s statement prior to its release, league sources said.
The NBA has asked multiple teams, including the Los Angeles Lakers, to hand over documents and other property as part of its investigation into illegal sports gambling, six league sources told The Athletic. The league, under scrutiny from Congress, is seeking new information based on the federal charges brought last month by the Department of Justice.
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Mike Vorkunov: NBA tanking comes up in DOJ's indictment. Information on who wouldn't play in a March 24, 2023 Blazers game (when they were tanking) and that all Magic starters wouldn't play in April 6, 2023 game — which came from a Magic player with a relationship to a defendant — was bet on
Before the Feb. 9, 2023 Lakers game against the Bucks, Jones texted an unnamed co-conspirator that a player was out and they should bet the Bucks. The player was not on the injury report yet. He also gave information on the 2023-24 Lakers, including Player 4, who the DOJ said was one of the Lakers’ best players that season.
Mike Vorkunov: NBA tanking comes up in the DOJ's indictment. Information on who wouldn't play in a March 24, 2023 Blazers game and that all Magic starters wouldn't play in April 6, 2023 game — which came from a Magic player with a relationship to a defendant — were used to bet on.