NBA Coach Billups Pleads Innocent To Mafia-linked Gambling

Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was detained in connection with rigged prohibited poker games


Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty Monday to alleged involvement in Mafia-linked prohibited betting plans that rocked the NBA, district attorneys said.


Billups, a former Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was apprehended in connection with rigged prohibited poker games tied to Mafia criminal offense households.


He was targeted along with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led investigation into the rip-off that presumably saw players cheated with the usage of sophisticated approaches including an X-ray table and barcoded card decks.


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


Rozier and Billups were placed on indefinite leave by the NBA after being jailed in the betting examination.


Rozier and a previous NBA player and assistant coach, Damon Jones, were among six people apprehended in a separate sports wagering case.


Billups was prosecuted on charges of conspiracy to devote wire scams and money laundering, to which he not guilty Monday, the Eastern District of New York 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 short 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 state Billups's celebrity helped draw gamers to high-stakes video games that used "state-of-the-art unfaithful technology."


That tech included shuffling machines that could read cards, concealed cams and barcoded decks.


NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated last month he was "deeply disturbed" by the far-ranging FBI probe into unlawful gambling.


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


"There's nothing more vital for the league and its fans than the integrity of the competition."


Silver revealed regret that the allegations had actually taken attention away from the start of the season.


"I say sorry to our fans that we are all handling, now, this circumstance," Silver said.