Feds say ex-NBA player Terry Rozier accepted $100K bribe in sports betting scheme
Former NBA player Terry Rozier was hit with new federal charges of sports bribery and honest services wire fraud conspiracy Thursday in a massive sports betting investigation that has rocked the league.
The superseding indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, New York, alleges Rozier solicited and accepted a bribe of $100,000 in exchange for tipping off a group of bettors about his plan to exit a March 2023 game early because of an injury while he was playing for the Charlotte Hornets.
Rozier, whom the Miami Heat waived last month, devised a “predetermined bribe arrangement” with other people, including co-defendants Marves Fairley and De’Niro Laster, to withdraw from the game so lucrative wagers could be placed, according to the superseding indictment.
However, not all of the bets on Rozier’s performance were successful, because he performed better than anticipated, collecting four rebounds during the game. As a result, following the game, Rozier’s bribe dipped to $70,000, federal prosecutors said.
“The superseding indictment just confirms that our motion to dismiss was righteous — new charges, new theories, but all just an effort to make something stick,” said Jim Trusty, an attorney for Rozier.
Earlier Thursday, Fairley pleaded guilty to two counts in the NBA gambling case, admitting in court that he paid a “player to change their game performance to give me an advantage.”
David Berman, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, identified the player as Rozier during the hearing.
Fairley’s attorney, Eric Siegle, said his client “took full responsibility” Thursday and “deeply regrets and is ashamed of his conduct.”
“By publicly acknowledging his guilt and conduct today, Marves is taking the first step toward atoning for his wrongful conduct and to starting his ‘second half’ on the right foot,” Siegle said.
Federal prosecutors also claim in the new indictment that Rozier deprived the NBA and the Hornets “of the intangible right of the honest and faithful services of Rozier through bribery and kickbacks,” according to the superseding indictment.
Laster and Shane Hennen, another co-defendant, were also charged with the bribery-related counts Thursday.
Their attorneys didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rozier already faces two federal charges, conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, stemming from the initial indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York last year.
Prosecutors already alleged that Rozier leaked nonpublic information about his plan to underperform at the 2023 game to a friend and co-defendant, Laster. The Justice Department alleged in the first indictment that Laster then sold the tip to several gamblers, who wagered more than $200,000 on Rozier’s plan.
The fraudulent wagers resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in profits for bettors, prosecutors said.
Rozier and Laster pleaded not guilty last year to the initial charges.
In December, Rozier requested that the case be dismissed, arguing that the government had overstepped by charging him with fraud. Rozier’s attorney, Trusty, cited a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found that depriving a party of information does not meet the threshold for federal fraud.
The superseding indictment against Rozier is the latest twist in two sprawling illegal gambling cases: one involving the rigging of Mafia-backed poker games and the other about the use of nonpublic information to place fraudulent bets on several NBA games.
Together, the two alleged schemes generated over $10 million in ill-gotten gains, according to the Justice Department.
Over 30 people, including members and associates of four major Mafia crime families, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and ex-NBA player Damon Jones, have been ensnared in the criminal operation.
Billups has maintained his innocence.
Jones pleaded guilty last month in federal court, where he admitted feeding inside information to bettors, helping orchestrate fixed poker games and serving as a “face card” to attract high-end gamblers.
He is scheduled to be sentenced next year.
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