(NEW YORK) — Portland Trail Blazers head coach and National Basketball Association Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty on Monday in Brooklyn federal court to charges he conspired to lure unsuspecting poker players to games allegedly rigged by the Mafia.
“We enter a plea of not guilty,” defense attorney Mark Mukasey said.
Prosecutors said Billups was one of the alleged scheme’s “face cards” who used his celebrity to attract high-rollers to poker tables that were equipped with X-ray technology and altered shuffling machines. The poker games were backed by organized crime families, according to the indictment, which was revealed Oct. 23.
Billups was released on a $5 million bond, secured by a home in Colorado.
Judge Ramon Reyes said he intends for the trial to begin in September 2026.
“Do whatever you have to do to get it ready to go,” Reyes said.
Billups, who spent 17 seasons in the NBA and was the 2004 NBA Finals MVP, is one of 31 defendants charged in the scheme, all of whom are due in court Monday. They’re facing various charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
All 31 defendants appeared in court on Monday.
“With respect to at least some defendants, plea negotiations have begun,” one of the prosecutors, Michael Gibaldi, said. He did not say which defendants might opt to change their plea to guilty and resolve their cases before trial.
Federal prosecutors previously signaled that they expect a number of the defendants will ultimately opt to plead guilty.
“Although it is too early for the government and any of the defendants to engage in substantial plea negotiations, the government and defense counsel for several defendants have begun productive discussions that the government hopes will ultimately lead to resolutions as to several defendants without the need for a trial,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing ahead of Monday’s status conference.
The evidence against Billups and his codefendants, including NBA coach Damon Jones, comes from electronic devices, surveillance photographs, pole camera footage, bank records and phone records, prosecutors said.
Less than a week after the charges against Billups and others were revealed, the NBA announced that it was undertaking a review of how the league can protect itself from sports betting and whether it’s doing enough to educate coaches, players and other personnel about the “dire risks” gambling could pose to their careers, according to an NBA league memo obtained by ABC News.
Billups and Rozier were immediately placed on leave by their teams when the charges were announced, the NBA said.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story erroneously identified Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier as one of the co-defendants in the alleged poker scheme.
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