NBA Players Were Involved In Fraud And Money Laundering Cases, Say Indictment

When Charlotte Hornet was nearing the end, Terry Rozier had been averaging 21 points. But in the game against the Orlando Pelicans, his score was just 5, and he claimed he was hurt after just less than 10 minutes.

According to a federal grand jury indictment, the injury was fabricated, which was unsealed on Thursday in New York.

Rozier and others were charged with committing wire fraud and money laundering. They won’t focus on the outcome of the game. Instead, they put money on individual player statistics, such as whether a player finishes over or under a given point total.

The indictment also reveals how bets can be placed using locker room information. That indictment also states that before the Hornets game, Rozier also told his longtime friend that he was “going to prematurely remove himself from the game in the first quarter due to a supposed injury and not return,” indicating the bettors knew Rozier could easily wager his point total would be his typical average. On the other side, Gamblers without any inside information were out of the money because they bet, he would score more than 21 points.

According to the indictment, Rozier’s friend DeNiro shared the information with others, and he is the one who placed more than $250,000 in prop bets, and of course, it paid off for him. The indictment also includes descriptions of several unnamed NBA players. The identities of those players are based on a review of injury reports mentioned in the indictment. These players include LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Damian Lillard.

Additionally, Damon Jones, who was an unofficial assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers during 2022-23, was also charged with sharing non-public information about the players in two Lakers games in 2020 and 2024.