NBA Coach Billups Pleads Not Guilty To Mafia-linked Gambling

Billups, a previous Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was arrested in connection with rigged unlawful poker video games


Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups pleaded innocent Monday to declared participation in Mafia-linked prohibited gambling schemes that rocked the NBA, prosecutors stated.


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


He was targeted together with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led investigation into the fraud that supposedly saw players cheated with using methods including an X-ray table and barcoded card decks.


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


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


Rozier and a former NBA player and assistant coach, Damon Jones, were amongst 6 individuals arrested in a different sports betting case.


Billups was indicted on charges of conspiracy to dedicate wire scams and cash laundering, to which he pleaded innocent Monday, the Eastern District of New york city district attorneys' office validated to AFP.


Billups was launched on bond after at first appearing in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and was represented by lawyer Marc Mukasey at a quick 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 included.


Prosecutors say Billups's star helped entice players to high-stakes games that used "modern cheating technology."


That tech included shuffling makers that might check out cards, hidden electronic cameras and barcoded decks.


NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated last month he was "deeply disrupted" by the far-ranging FBI probe into illegal gaming.


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


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


Silver revealed remorse that the claims had taken attention far from the start of the season.


"I apologize to our fans that we are all handling, now, this situation," Silver said.