Federal prosecutors are expected to extend plea deals to a dozen defendants in the sprawling, mob-linked poker case that led to charges against an NBA Hall of Famer and a former NBA player, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
The government, however, did not specify in the brief filed ahead of a Wednesday status conference, which of the defendants are poised to receive a plea deal.
Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York indicted over 30 people in two illegal gambling cases last year: one involving the rigging of poker games allegedly backed by the Mafia, and the second using nonpublic information to place bets on several NBA games.
Among those charged in the cases are members and associates of four major Mafia crime families, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, and ex-NBA player Damon Jones.
Well-known former professional athletes known as “face cards” participated in the scheme and were used to lure wealthy victims to the fixed games, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said the “face cards,” Billups and Jones, were part of the “cheating teams” and “received a portion of the criminal proceeds in exchange for their participation.”
On Tuesday, prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Ramon Reyes, who is presiding over the high-stakes poker case, that the government “expects to extend formal plea agreements” to nearly half of the defendants charged in the case in the coming days, according to the Tuesday filing.
The government had “productive conversations with counsel for at least nine other defendants,” and it is “reasonably optimistic” that it will lead to additional plea deals before the case proceeds to trial, the filing states.
All of the defendants were ordered to attend a status conference in the case on Wednesday in the federal court in Brooklyn.
Billups pleaded not guilty to money laundering and wire fraud charges last year.
Jones has pleaded not guilty to allegations of ill-gotten gains from the rigged poker games, as well as in the separate case where he is accused of providing sports bettors with inside information.
Rozier, who has not been charged in the poker case, has pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with the sports betting case.
Since November, the government has produced discovery materials on a rolling basis, including evidence seized from seven electronic devices, over 100,000 pages of financial records and telephone records, and over 800 pages of surveillance photographs, the Tuesday filing showed.
The discovery materials included pole camera footage from one of the locations of the alleged illegal poker games, and several terabytes of data from electronic devices and iCloud accounts, according to the filing.
