NBA Coach Billups Pleads Innocent To Mafia-linked Gambling

Billups, a previous Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was jailed in connection with rigged illegal poker games


Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups pleaded innocent Monday to alleged participation in Mafia-linked prohibited gaming schemes that rocked the NBA, district attorneys said.


Billups, a previous Detroit Pistons star and NBA Hall of Famer, was detained in connection with rigged illegal poker video games tied to Mafia criminal activity households.


He was targeted along with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in an FBI-led investigation into the rip-off that apparently saw players cheated with making use of advanced techniques consisting of an X-ray table and decks.


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


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


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


Billups was arraigned on charges of conspiracy to devote wire scams and money laundering, to which he pleaded not guilty Monday, the Eastern District of New york city district attorneys' office verified 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 quick hearing in a Brooklyn court on Monday.


Billups will now sign a $5 million bond in the Eastern District of New York City for his pre-trial release, district attorneys included.


Prosecutors say Billups's celeb assisted entice gamers to high-stakes video games that used "modern cheating technology."


That tech included shuffling makers that might read cards, hidden cameras and barcoded decks.


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


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


"There's absolutely nothing more essential for the league and its fans than the stability of the competitors."


Silver revealed remorse that the claims had taken attention far from the start of the season.


"I apologize to our fans that we are all handling, now, this scenario," Silver stated.