Terry Rozier Says Feds Overreached in Gambling Prosecution

Terry Rozier is pushing for the sports betting allegations against him to be dismissed, blasting the evidence against him as weak and citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent he says dooms the federal government’s case.

The Heat guard argues the Supreme Court has “repeatedly warned against” using federal statutes as a “tool to criminalize conduct traditionally regulated by the states.” The motion to dismiss is dated Dec. 12 but was not publicly available on the docket until Tuesday. Rozier pleaded not guilty earlier this month.

Rozier—who has been on leave from the Heat since the October indictment that charged him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering—says that despite the government’s splashy claims of insider betting and rigging games, “the indictment alleges something less headline-worthy: that some bettors broke certain sportsbooks’ terms of use against wagering based on non-public information and ‘straw betting.’” 

He also says the government’s case is “limited.” Indeed, the indictment features only one instance of allegedly illegal behavior by Rozier. In March 2023, while he was still with the Hornets, Rozier is accused of telling his childhood friend he would pretend to be hurt and “prematurely remove himself from the game in the first quarter.” 

His friend, De’Niro Laster, is accused of selling the information to bettors. Rozier did as he said, finishing with five points and two assists—well below his season averages. 

A former federal prosecutor told Front Office Sports in October that the fact there was only one Rozier game included in the indictment likely reflects where prosecutors have the strongest corroborating evidence, meaning there could be additional evidence that was left out.

“You’re never going to get the full scope in the indictment,” the former prosecutor said. “When you’re talking about a broad conspiracy like this, usually the majority of evidence is not spelled out in the indictment.”

Rozier is paying for the attorney Laster is using, something the federal government is concerned about because of potential implications for the attorney’s allegiances. Rozier says those concerns are unfounded.

Rozier’s new filing cites multiple Supreme Court cases, including a 2023 ruling that threw out convictions in the “Buffalo Billion” corruption case. In Ciminelli v. U.S., the court unanimously ruled that prosecutors had used a too-broad definition of “wire fraud” to charge the defendants.

Rozier’s defense cited the Ciminelli ruling. “The indictment’s characterization of the fraud is that the scheme deprived the sportsbooks of making informed decisions of accepting certain wagers because they were unaware that Terry Rozier informed Laster of this non-public information,” the motion to dismiss says. “This is the precise theory of fraud that the Supreme Court rejected in Ciminelli.”

The government’s charges against him, Rozier argues, represent “precisely the kind of overreach the Court has cautioned against for decades.”

A representative for the DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.