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 declared involvement in Mafia-linked prohibited gambling plans that rocked the NBA, prosecutors said.


Billups, a previous Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was jailed in connection with rigged prohibited poker video games connected to Mafia criminal offense families.


He was targeted along with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led examination into the rip-off that supposedly saw gamers cheated with making use of sophisticated techniques consisting of an X-ray table and barcoded card decks.


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


Rozier and Billups were put on indefinite leave by the NBA after being in the gambling examination.


Rozier and a previous NBA gamer and assistant coach, Damon Jones, were amongst six people detained in a different sports betting case.


Billups was prosecuted on charges of conspiracy to dedicate wire scams and cash laundering, to which he pleaded innocent Monday, the Eastern District of New york city prosecutors' workplace confirmed to AFP.


Billups was released on bond after initially appearing in federal court in Portland, Oregon, and was represented by lawyer Marc Mukasey at a brief 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, district attorneys included.


Prosecutors say Billups's celebrity helped tempt gamers to high-stakes video games that used "state-of-the-art unfaithful innovation."


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


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


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


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


Silver expressed regret that the accusations had actually taken attention far from the start of the season.


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