NEW YORK — One of the few people involved in all three major federal basketball gambling probes pleaded guilty in one of them on Tuesday.
Shane Hennen, 41, was originally supposed to go before Judge Ramon Reyes at 11 a.m., but a flight delay in Cleveland postponed him by four hours.
Federal prosecutors say Hennen was part of all three cases that involve the NBA and college basketball; he participated in high-stakes poker matches that were rigged, placed bets on NBA players including Terry Rozier and Jontay Porter using inside information and recruited college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association players to shave points in games he gambled on.
Hennen pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the rigged poker games case in a Brooklyn courtroom Tuesday.
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and agreed to roughly $700,000 in forfeiture as part of his plea agreement. He will be sentenced by Reyes on Jan. 21, 2027 at 11 a.m.
Todd Leventhal, Hennen’s attorney, told Front Office Sports that as part of his client’s plea agreement, the charges in the NBA gambling case will be transferred to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where prosecutors are trying the college case. Hennen has also been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bribery in sports.
While addressing Reyes, Hennen said he was aware of rigged poker games that took place on Long Island and in the Hamptons, but only participated in ones in Manhattan at 80 Washington Place.
The poker games, according to prosecutors, involved members of organized crime families and employed professional athletes such as Damon Jones and Chauncey Billips to serve as “face cards” to attract high bidders and give the games legitimacy.
Jones pled guilty in April, but Billups is one of the remaining defendants who has yet to do so.
Prosecutors asked Reyes a week ago to move the trial from November to early 2027, citing staffing issues and other trials, which Billups’s attorney objected to. Billups would be one of just five defendants to take the case to trial barring further plea deals.
