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Former NBA player Damon Jones was criminally charged in a new indictment that suggests Jones leaked information about the injury status of LeBron James to sports bettors before a February 2023 game while he was affiliated with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The indictment also suggests that Jones, 41, leaked information about Anthony Davis before a January 2024 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, CNBC reports. Jones allegedly told a co-defendant in the case that a star Laker identified only as Player 4 was “probable” for the game. Davis was the only player listed as “probable” for that game, the outlet reports.
The information was given to sports bettors, one of whom placed a $100,000 bet against the Lakers, who ended up winning the game in spite of Davis’ injuries.
Neither James nor Davis is accused of any criminal activity in the indictment, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Thursday, Oct. 23. Their names are not included in the indictment.
Between December 2022 and March 2024, defendants Eric Earnest, Marves Fairley, Shane Hennen, Damon Jones, Deniro Laster and Terry Rozier are accused of defrauding betting companies by “providing, obtaining and using non-public information relating to NBA games to place and cause others to place fraudulent sports wagers for profit, and to launder the proceeds thereof,” according to unsealed court documents.
Jones was acting as an unofficial coach for the Lakers in 2023, per the documents. Jones and James, 40, additionally played together for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The indictment also refers to an unidentified Player 3. It says that Jones “was a teammate and coach of a prominent player,” who was Player 3.
Thirty-one people were arrested and are to be indicted in two separate cases, one involving illegal betting and the other involving illegal gambling, including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups.
“Today we are here in New York to announce a historic arrest across a wide sweeping criminal enterprise that enveloped both the NBA and La Cosa Nostra,” FBI director Kash Patel announced at a press conference Thursday morning.
Patel, 45, continued, “As you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today, former and current NBA players and coaches. What you don’t know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that spanned the course of years. The FBI led a coordinated take down across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing.”
Billups, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame and played in the NBA for 17 seasons, is entering his fifth season as the Trail Blazers coach.
Authorities said that he participated in an illegal poker game in Manhattan, Miami, Las Vegas and the Hamptons, according to CNN. The games involved members of at least three New York mafia families, and Billups and Jones were allegedly paid for their participation.
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The indictment comes a day after the NCAA Division II and Division III Management Councils announced on Wednesday, Oct. 22 that they have voted to permit student athletes and athletics department staff members to make bets on professional sports.
The change was previously adopted for NCAA Division I on Oct. 8. The changes are set to go into effect on Nov. 1, USA Today reports. Betting on college sports remains prohibited.
