Congress is demanding a briefing from NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after the FBI busted an alleged massive, nationwide organized crime-linked gambling scandal involving star athletes and at least one coach.
The FBI announced the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier as part of an investigation into sports gambling on Thursday. At least 31 people were arrested in total in a criminal operation allegedly linked to the La Cosa Nostra crime families. As the NBA performs damage control, the House Committee on Commerce sent a letter to Silver on Friday asking for a briefing.
The Department of Commerce deals with matters revolving around sports, recently having major roles in the investigations of steroid use in the MLB, steroid use in the Olympic Games, and the sexual abuse of Olympic athletes.
“These allegations raise serious concerns about sports betting and the integrity of sport in the NBA,
which harms fans and legal sports bettors,” the letter said of the allegations around the gambling and sports fixing scandal.
The letter went over the most explosive allegations in the federal indictments, including that Rozier left a game early to facilitate a co-conspirator’s bet, which resulted in a win of hundreds of thousands of dollars, which was then split with the star athlete. Rozier also allegedly faked an injury so a friend could bet on his “under” statistics, while former NBA player Damon Jones allegedly sold insider information on NBA players and teams to gamblers.
The committee demanded a briefing on the scandal no later than Oct. 31, expecting details such as all available information about the betting and sports-fixing bust, actions the NBA plans to take to prevent it from reoccurring in the future, gaps in regulations, and whether the NBA will reevaluate the terms of its parternships with sports betting companies, which have grown in recent years.
NBA STARS, COACH AMONG 31 ARRESTED IN FBI SPORTS BETTING CRACKDOWN: ‘THE FRAUD IS MIND BOGGLING’
The FBI said its investigation, Operation Zhen Diagram, uncovered a nationwide gambling ring that allegedly defrauded victims of millions of dollars through poker schemes, sports betting manipulation, and cryptocurrency laundering.
“The fraud is mind-boggling,” FBI director Kash Patel said at a press conference. “It’s not hundreds of dollars, it’s not thousands of dollars, it’s not tens of thousands of dollars. It’s not even millions of dollars. We’re talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation, and we could not have done it without our interagency partners that are before us today.”
