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A whirlwind day for Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups began at 6 a.m. on Thursday, when the two men were arrested by FBI agents on charges related to two sweeping gambling cases that were separate but related.
As the smoke cleared late Thursday night, lawyers for both men made it clear that they would be disputing prosecutors’ versions of events.
Jim Trusty, who represents Rozier—and represented Donald Trump in three civil and criminal cases before parting ways in 2023—said in a statement to news outlets that the NBA had already cleared Rozier and that the feds have a weak case.
“We have represented Terry Rozier for over a year. A long time ago we reached out to these prosecutors to tell them we should have an open line of communication,” Trusty said in a statement sent to Front Office Sports and other outlets Thursday.
Rozier was accused of intentionally tanking his own prop bets so gamblers with inside information could profit. Along with former NBA player and coach Damon Jones, Rozier was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, counts that could land him in prison for years.
“They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel. It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender they opted for a photo op,” the statement said. “They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case. They appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”
Rozier had been publicly tied to the betting probe since at least January, when the Wall Street Journal reported that he was being investigated for point shaving. The more shocking name to emerge Thursday morning was Chauncey Billups, whose arrest in a gambling case was nearly unheard for a current pro sports coach.
Billups was charged Thursday with being the celebrity bait for a technologically advanced poker fraud scheme. He was listed as an unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator in the sports gambling case as a current NBA coach who tipped off gamblers to his star player resting in a regular season game.
He was arrested and arraigned Thursday and retained Oregon defense attorney Chris Heywood, who denied the charges in a statement to Front Office Sports and other outlets Thursday night.
“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom,” the statement said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
Billups is in the Naismith Hall of Fame, earned about $100 million in his playing career, and was making at least $4.7 million annually to coach the Blazers.
“Furthermore, Chauncey Billups has never and would never gamble on basketball games, provide insider information, or sacrifice the trust of his team and the League,” the statement continued.
Billups and Rozier are on leave from their teams amid the investigation, the NBA said Thursday.
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