Following Wednesday’s opening night loss, the Portland Trail Blazers’ season has already been turned upside down.
On Thursday morning, just hours after the game, the FBI arrested head coach Chauncey Billups on charges he allegedly participated in an illegal gambling ring with members and associates of the La Cosa Nostra organized crime families.
Chauncey Billups leaves the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse in Portland, Ore. on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. The Portland Trail Blazers coach was arrested by the FBI on charges charges he allegedly participated in an illegal gambling ring with members and associates of the La Cosa Nostra organized crime families.
Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Billups faces federal conspiracy charges of wire fraud and money laundering, according to the arrest warrant. He was taken into custody by the FBI in Lake Oswego, where he resides.
His attorney, Chris Heywood, issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying that his client would fight any and all charges.
“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,” Heywood said. “He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”
By Thursday afternoon, Billups was before a Federal Magistrate Judge Jolie Russo in Portland for what became a seven-minute hearing. Wearing gray athletic pants and a brown hoodie, the NBA star-turned-coach only spoke once: when he told the judge he understood his right to remain silent.
After the hearing, Billups was released from custody. Among the conditions for his release, Billups turned over his passport and agreed to not participate in gambling activities. He was ordered to appear Nov. 24 at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, New York.
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups watches from the sideline during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
Jenny Kane / AP
In a separate indictment, also announced Thursday, federal prosecutors described a scheme to defraud sports betting companies by obtaining and providing information that wasn’t public about upcoming NBA games “to place and cause others to place fraudulent sports wagers for profit, and to launder the proceeds.”
That indictment, which charged Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, involved an unnamed co-conspirator in Oregon, who provided inside information on a Trail Blazers game in 2023. The description of the co-conspirator, provided in the indictment, mirrors Billups’ NBA career.
Both indictments were filed in the Eastern District of New York.
Related: Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups among more than 30 arrested in federal gambling probe
The NBA issued a statement Thursday morning saying it had placed Billups on immediate leave.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictments announced today,” the statement said. “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
The following has been released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/vJ4bL2JwiC
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) October 23, 2025
On Thursday, the Trail Blazers named assistant coach Tiago Splitter as interim replacement for Billups.
“We are aware of the allegations involving head coach Chauncey Billups, and the Trail Blazers are fully cooperating with the investigation,” the team said in a statement. “Billups has been placed on immediate leave.”
Splitter, the interim head coach, played seven seasons in the NBA. He won an NBA title as a member of the San Antonio Spurs. Splitter, who is Brazilian, was just hired by the Trail Blazers this summer after coaching in Paris.
Mafia-backed gambling scheme
Billups was one of more than 30 people named in the federal indictment that was filed on Oct. 9. It describes a sophisticated, rigged poker scheme involving members of multiple New York crime families.
The scheme, according to the indictment, relied on “face cards,” famous former athletes who lent credibility to the poker games. Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones were allegedly face cards who received a portion of the money earned from the fraudulent poker games.
The indictment describes how the operators of the scheme used a rigged card shuffler to fix the poker games and defraud players, who assumed they were playing a legitimate game.
The scheme had been in operation since 2019 and defrauded victims out of $7.15 million. One card player in 2023 was defrauded out of $1.8 million, the indictment states.
The stunning allegations come at a pivotal time for the Trail Blazers. Last month, the team’s current owners announced they’d accepted a bid led by Texas businessman Tom Dundon to purchase the team for a reported $4 billion.
Dundon watched the team’s opening game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday in Portland. He did not respond to a request for comment on Billups’ arrest.
Another indictment
Before a March 24, 2023, game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Chicago Bulls, “Co-Conspirator 8″ allegedly told one of the defendants, “the Trail Blazers were going to be tanking,” in order to get a better draft pick, the indictment describing allegations of sports betting states.
The information suggesting the Trail Blazers planned to intentionally lose the game was not available to the public or sports betting companies, the indictment states.
Using that information, gamblers placed multiple bets, totaling $100,000, that the Trail Blazers would lose. That night, the team lost to the Bulls, 124-96.
It was one of several games described in the indictment where people involved with NBA teams allegedly provided inside information on games to gamblers.
Billups’ attorney Chris Heywood said in the statement issued Thursday that his client “never and would never gamble on basketball games, provide insider information, or sacrifice the trust of his team and the League.”
Co-Conspirator 8, who is unnamed, is described as “an NBA player from approximately 1997 through 2014, and an NBA coach since at least 2021.”
Billups signed a multi-year contract extension with the Trail Blazers in April. He’s been head coach since 2021. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in October 2024.
A controversial hire
Billups has faced scrutiny in the past.
In 1997, when he was playing for the Boston Celtics, Billups was accused of rape. A criminal investigation never resulted in charges against Billups or the two other men who were accused by a woman identified as Jane Doe.
Related: Portland Trail Blazers’ rape investigation came together quickly, didn’t contact accuser
In response to a civil lawsuit filed by Doe, Billups denied any intercourse with her and also denied any assault.
“Billups admits that on an evening in November 1997, plaintiff initiated and consented to oral sex with him, in an automobile,” the court filing from Billups states. “Billups further admits that he has described plaintiff’s actions to the Waltham Police Department and to the Office of the District Attorney for Middlesex County.”
The allegations resurfaced when the Trail Blazers announced Billups as head coach in 2021.
At the time, team officials said they “did everything in our power to vet that incident.” However, an investigation by OPB found the team never contacted the attorney for Billups’ accuser or Massachusetts prosecutors.
After his release Thursday, Billups walked out of the side of the federal courthouse in downtown Portland into a swarm of reporters. He didn’t say anything before getting into the back of a black Chevy Suburban and driving off.
OPB’s Saskia Hatvany contributed to this report.
