The post X-Ray Tables, High-Tech Glasses, NBA Players, and the Mafia: Crazy Poker Fraud Scheme Revealed appeared first on Vegas Slots Online News.
Thursday revelations
If you haven’t been living under a rock today, you will have hard about the arrests of Miami Heat Guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers Head Coach Chauncey Billups on Thursday. While Rozier’s arrest relates to match-fixing, it is the arrest of Billups that has really caught the imagination of the media for the crazy story behind it.
reminiscent of a Hollywood movie.”
As reported by the BBC, Billups’ arrest relates to a scheme run by the mafia in which wealthy poker players were duped out of their money with the use of specialized tech. It’s a criminal scheme that prosecutors in the US have deemed “reminiscent of a Hollywood movie.” FBI Director Kash Patel even referred to it as “mind boggling.”
Arrests for the scheme, which targeted victims in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, and other US cities, came out on Thursday at the same time as the match-fixing scandal. Coach Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones were among the names, supposedly utilized as “face cards” to attract wealthy victims into the games.
X-Ray tables, special glasses
It’s easy to see why prosecutors believe the case is Hollywood-esque when we consider the details.
Straight out of a movie like Goodfellas or The Godfather, the scheme was perpetrated by members of La Cosa Nostra crime families, a mafia organization with roots in Sicily. They then drew the sports stars into their scheme, either through the promise of substantial returns or the threat of retribution if they failed to agree, as of yet it is unclear which.
They proceeded to cheat victims out of at least $7m in underground poker games, with one person in particular losing at least $1.8m. How did they do it? With the help of special tech, including X-Ray tables, analyzers in chip trays, secret cameras, and special sunglasses and contact lenses that could read pre-marked cards.’
Both those carrying out the ploy and the mafia organizers would receive a cut of the proceeds, according to FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher Raia. He said the scheme “wreaked havoc across the nation.”
The charges
FBI Director Kash Patel explained that there had been a “co-ordinated takedown across 11 states,” leading to the arrests. The first indictment relates to fixing of NBA games, namely seven specific matches between February 2023 and March 2024. The second indictment relates to the poker scheme, of which the charges include robbery, extortion, wire fraud, bank fraud, and illegal gambling.
look forward to our day in court”
Billups, the coach supposedly involved in the poker scheme, was arrested in Portland and arraigned in court on Thursday. He is expected to prepare a substantial bond for his release. Billups’ lawyer has said the coach will “look forward to our day in court,” vowing to “fight these allegations with the same tenacity that marked his 28-year career.”
The NBA commented on the arrests of Rozier and Billups, stating: “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
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