Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups has pled not guilty in alleged gambling case.
NEW YORK, NY – On Monday, during an arraignment hearing, Portland Trail Blazers coach and basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups pled not guilty to charges he profited from rigged poker games involving several Mafia figures and at least one other former NBA player.
Billups attorney, Chris Heywood, not only called his client a “man of integrity” and, again, denied the charges.
Immediately following Billups initial court appearance in October, Heywood said, “(to) believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall of Fame legacy, his reputation and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
Former player and National Basketball Association assistant coach Damon Jones is also facing charges in the gambling scheme, which prosecutors say involved the use of altered card-shuffling machines, hidden cameras in poker chip trays, special sunglasses, and even X-ray equipment to see the cards of some players. Jones was also charged along with Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in a separate case that prosecutors claim allowed gamblers to exploit insider information about players to win bets on NBA games.
Billups was hired as the Trail Blazer’s head coach in 2021 and signed a multiyear extension with the team earlier this year. He also was employed as an assistant coach by the Los Angeles Clippers before joining the Blazer organization.
Tim Lantz
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