X-ray tables and glasses allegedly used by members of the mafia, as part of the betting scandal involving an NBA player and coach, have been revealed by the FBI.
More than 30 people were arrested on Thursday as part of an illegal gambling crackdown headed by the FBI.
They included current and former NBA coaches and players, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and ex-Cleveland Cavaliers guard Damon Jones.
Meanwhile, Miami Heat shooting guard Terry Rozier was arrested on Thursday as part of a separate investigation, with ESPN claiming that 'sportsbooks in multiple states flagged suspicious betting interest on Rozier's statistics' before an NBA match in 2023.
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Rozier is among those to have been charged with 'conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering'.
As per The Athletic, he allegedly took himself out of an NBA game on purpose so that a co-conspirator could win a bet that they had placed.
The defendants in the federal poker-related case, meanwhile, have been indicted and charged with being involved in 'criminal schemes to rig illegal poker games at various locations in New York City ... and throughout the United States', the FBI stated in a press release.
Four reputed New York mafia crime families are alleged to have been involved in the scheme.
Prosecutors say that the 'unwitting' victims involved in the fraud scandal lost at least $7m collectively in the poker games.
Joseph Nocella Jr, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, explained the charges: "Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as 'Face Cards' to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contact lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big."
The FBI claim that those involved in the alleged scheme used an X-ray table which read any face-down card, and a rigged shuffling machine that could predict who had the best hand.
They also noted that 'other cheating technologies' were used, including the special marking of cards, using updated radio frequency technologies, so that those wearing special forms of sunglasses and contact lenses would be able to read them.
And a poker chip tray analyser, which used a hidden camera, was able to secretly read cards.
Billups is accused of being a 'face card' in the scheme, with the Blazers releasing the following statement on Thursday night: "We are aware of the allegations involving head coach Chauncey Billups, and the Trail Blazers are fully cooperating with the investigation.
"Billups has been placed on immediate leave."
Topics: NBA, Basketball, United States
Ryan Smart