What A Day - FBI Takes Down NBA-Mafia Gambling Ring

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

On Thursday, FBI Director Kash Patel announced over 30 indictments as part of a massive investigation into a criminal gambling ring. Those indicted included prominent NBA players and coaches. Oh, and also the Mafia. The announcement comes just as the NBA begins its season and at a time when sports betting has never been more prominent. Bookmakers have deals with major sporting leagues and celebrity athletes, and advertise aggressively during broadcasts. And in 2024 the US sports betting industry brought in a record $13.7 BILLION. Mike Vorkunov, national NBA business reporter for The Athletic, joins the show to explain the FBI investigation and what makes the NBA so vulnerable to betting scandals.And in headlines, Vice President JD Vance wraps up his visit to Israel, the Senate kills a bill to get federal workers and military members paid during the shutdown, and the US national debt surpasses $38 TRILLION.Show Notes:Check out Mike's reporting – nytimes.com/athletic/author/mike-vorkunov/Call Congress – 202-224-3121Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's Friday, October 24th. I'm Jane Koston, and this is What Today, the show listening to White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt and having a brilliant idea. In addition to the ballroom and the Rose Garden patio, is the president looking at any other renovations or significant kind of projects here at the White House? Not to my knowledge, no, but he's a builder at heart, clearly. And so his heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds. But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really. the president's main priority. What if the ballroom was President Donald Trump's only priority?

No time for anything else. Anything. Just paint swatches and wallpaper consultations for the next three years. On today's show, Trump pardons a billionaire who created the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. And the U.S. breaks another record with the gross national debt surpassing $38 trillion. Gross indeed. But let's start with FBI director Cash Patel. Cash Patel had a very big day on Thursday, and no, it did not involve mixed martial arts, violating the constitutional rights of

everyday Americans or getting yelled at on the hill. Rather, it involved announcing indictments as part of a massive investigation into a criminal gambling ring, one that involved prominent NBA players and coaches and also the mafia. Yes, the mafia. Here's Patel speaking on Thursday morning, seemingly taking credit for an investigation that started before he got the FBI job. But as you now know, individuals such as Chauncey Billups, Damon Jones, and Terry Rozier were taken into custody today, former current NBA players and coaches. What you don't know is that this is an illegal gambling operation and sports rigging operation that span the course of years. The FBI led a coordinated takedown across 11 states to arrest over 30 individuals today

responsible for this case, which is very much ongoing. Patel is referring to former Detroit Pistons Great and Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups, as well as Miami Heat Guard, Terry Rozier, and retired Cleveland Cavaliers Guard and assistant coach, Damon Jones. There are two cases being investigated, one involving rigged poker games and the other involving using non-public information on NBA players to help betters. Here's U.S. Attorney Joseph Nosella Jr. on Thursday taking the opportunity to make some puns before explaining the details of the case.

But my message to the defendants who've been rounded up today is this. Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out. Violating the law is a losing proposition, and you can bet on that. You know he was like driving to work thinking about that line, right? Like, all the way to work. This investigation comes as the NBA season is just getting started, and a sports betting has never been more prominent in America.

If you've watched a sporting event in the last few years, particularly since the Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that sports gambling could be legalized by individual states, you've seen countless ads for fan duel, prize picks, and draft kings. In 2024, the U.S. sports betting industry brought in a record $13.7 billion, though Americans are growing increasingly concerned about gambling. And after reading these indictments, I can see why.

So to explain the federal government's investigation and what makes the NBA so vulnerable to sports betting scandals, I spoke to Mike Vorkenov. He's the National NBA Business Reporter for the Athletic. Mike Vorkenov, welcome to what a day. What a day. I mean, let's start with the big picture. What happened on Thursday?

Why were more than 30 people, including an active NBA head coach and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame arrested by federal authorities? Yeah, so Department of Justice unveiled two separate but kind of related indictments charging more than 30 people. One was a sports gambling ring that included taking insider information from NBA players and other people who work for NBA teams to place large amounts of money on sports wagers, whether teams would win or

lose, and then also just on prop bets on individual NBA players. And that involved a charge for heat guard Terry Rozier, who is in the middle of, I believe, a roughly $90 million contract. And the other indictment unveiled kind of this rigged poker ring around the country with the involvement in the cooperation of different Italian crime families in New York City who threatened people who would not pay and help stage the games. And in that one, Chauncey Billups, currently the Blazers head coach, but also a Hall of Fame basketball player. Yeah, I remember him with the 2004 NBA champion Detroit Pistons. Yeah, one final's MVP. You know, he's alleged to have been one of the people helped. setting up these rigged games, he was part of what the indictment calls, I guess the ring called

Facecards, which are the former pro players that were used to help lure in potential future victims. So you mentioned that these are two cases, but there is some overlap. Can you tell me about how these two cases may be connected? Sure. So first of all, there's three people who have been charged in both. One of them is Damon Jones, who is a former NBA player, former NBA assistant coach. he is alleged to be one of those people who use insider information that he then sold to sports

better so they could place bets on the Lakers and other NBA teams. Like in one example, he had insider information that, you know, Laker Star would be missing a game. And so he sold that to a sports better. And another, he sold information on that a player might be injured on the Lakers. And he sold that for $2,500, according to the indictment. And then a $100,000 bet was placed on the Lakers to lose that night, although ultimately they won, ironically. But he's also one of the face cards in that rigged poker ring. And those are kind of the three through lines.

But, you know, Chauncey Billups might be at the center of this, too. Not only was he charged in the rigged poker ring, but there's a co-conspirator number eight unnamed in the indictment, but he's someone who let one of the other co-defendants know that the Blazers will be holding out players. And the description of co-conspirator number eight is that he's played in the NBA at one point from 1997 to 24. He's a resident of Oregon, and that also he's coached in the NBA since 2021. So if you go on basketball reference, you might be able to piece that together.

That is Chauncey Billups. Now, this is definitely not the first time sports betting has impacted the NBA. Now, other sports leagues have had gambling scandals. But what do you think makes the NBA and the sport of basketball particularly vulnerable? Well, I think it's that basketball, unlike every other sport, is so dependent on, you know, one particular player, right? Like, sure, there's only five players on a court, and that's why stars are so valuable in the NBA, because if you have one truly great player that can change things so much, but also that goes the other way, too, one person

kind of can manipulate their own performance in a way that can help better is win prop bets on them, right? In the NBA, you can bet on whether one particular player had, you know, this many points, rebounds, assists, three-point shots, and that's all with the control of that one player. And that's easily bedable. And I think easier to bet on than maybe in the NFL or baseball or any other sport where there is a little bit more of a codependence going on for personal statistics. And also the NBA, they make more money than any other professional sports league. NBA players have roughly an average $12 million salary. That's way more than any other league. And yet they're the ones for now who seem to be more susceptible to kind of this kind of scandal.

Now, basic question, what is the legality of NBA players and coaches and betting? What are they allowed to bet on? What aren't they allowed to bet on? Well, I'll put it simply. You're basically allowed to bet on anything but basketball, anything but the NBA and it's kind of like associate league. So the NBA, the WNBA, the G League. You can go bet on the NFL.

You can go bet on baseball. Heck, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, they have deals with Fanduel and draft kings, right? Like, they're out there cutting commercials for them. So now the players and just pro-gambling have never been closer. But you can't bet on the NBA. And you cannot also give away kind of what we call insider information. I think legally the term is non-public information that someone might be hurt. Someone might not be playing in a game that bettors can then use to place bets ahead of when the public has that information.

Now, you mentioned that LeBron and other players have relationships with Fandall and Draft Kings, but so does the NBA. The NBA has worked with Fanduel and Draft Kings as its official betting partner since 2021, and at least four NBA arenas have on-site sports books. And this is something it's basically endemic to professional sports. What do you think this scandal will do to the relationship between sports leagues and sports betting, which has already been pretty controversial, I would think? It's controversial for a lot of reasons, not to mention that one of the biggest ones is that the NBA players, they don't seem to like it, right?

It brings a lot of venom on them from fans and betters who's bets, they get hit with taunts and expert of lace tirades on social media and in person. And Venmo requests because they're like, I didn't hit a parlay because you won a game, but I had bet the under, which if you are sending Venmo requests to an NBA player, you need to just back off. Like, put your phone down and go outside. Yes, yes, absolutely. I agree with you. But, and here's the big but, you know, this drives revenue for the NBA. It drives revenue for the teams, right? And I think that over the years, the NBA was the first, Adam Silver, when he took over commissioner, I think was the first

pro sports league commissioner in North America who came out for legalized gambling. The NBA has a strong relationship with all these gambling companies. They have tried over the last few years to kind of reel in sports books from what people can bet on. But that's kind of all they have done so far. They've talked a lot about it, but they're still at the one of the sports books to some degree who are their partners. So it's not as if it's isolated from the NBA itself. So obviously the NBA has suspended Billups, and now there's an interim head coach for the Portland Trailblazers. What happens next in this case? Well, that's a great question.

Yeah, so Chaunty Billups is placed on leave. Terry Rozier has been placed on leave. Obviously, the federal government is going to continue on proceeding with its case. They said their investigation is also still ongoing, so we'll see if they find anything else. There are some unnamed co-conspirators and their indictment who have clear ties. to the NBA. So we'll see if they get unmasked or if they're future charges. Terry Rozier, they investigated him when this happened, when this allegation happened and cleared him and allowed him to keep playing for the last year and a half, right? And so now he's on leave. And I wonder if all

they can really do is just wait for the DOJ to finish prosecuting its case and go from there. It's clear that their own investigation into these types of things was not sufficient. So you might have to just let the federal government do its thing. Mike Vorkenov, thank you so much for joining me. Anytime. Happy to do it. That was my conversation with Mike Vorkenov, national NBA business reporter for The Athletic.

We'll get to more of the news in the moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcast, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a Day is brought to you by bookshop.org.

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Bookshop.org has you covered. Use code Wad to get 10% off your next order at bookshop.org. Here's what else we're following today. Head of lines. If I brought everybody back right now and we voted on a measure to do this to pay essential workers, it would be spiked in the Senate. They're going to show you this afternoon that they would spike that bill. So it would be a waste of our time.

and it would take the pressure off Chuck Schumer to get his job done and open the government again. This is what's so infuriating to us. That's House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday, making yet another excuse for why he won't call the House back to session in the middle of the second longest government shutdown in history. And that's what's so infuriating to us. Johnson made these comments not long before the Senate rejected two bills,

one Democratic, one Republican, to pay federal workers as the shutdown continues. The Democratic bill would have paid all federal workers and prevented the Trump administration from carrying out mass firings. The Republican bill would have just paid active duty military and employees who are not furloughed, but neither bill was successful. And both parties are continuing to parrot their beloved talking points, while President Trump has pretty much checked out before his big trip to Asia today. But Democrats aren't backing down.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called out the president and the speaker in a video on Twitter Thursday for refusing to negotiate. America is in the greatest health care crisis we've faced in decades. People are suffering. And what is Donald Trump's response? He jets off to a whole bunch of foreign countries for a week and refuses to sit down with leader Jeffries and I to address this horrible crisis. Donald Trump jetting off to foreign countries and not discussing health care is his version of Speaker Johnson's shutting down the house for a month. In the midst of the federal government shutdown, the U.S. national debt just blew past $38 trillion, the fastest rise ever outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.S. hit $37 trillion in gross national debt in just August of this year. Instead of Trump's promise to rein in the debt, he's putting it on steroids. The Joint Economic Committee estimates that the total national debt has grown by nearly $70,000 per second for the past year. That's more than $250 million an hour, or 23.6 White House ballrooms a day. So what was Elon Musk up to? Remember Doge, the Department of Government efficiency that was supposed to lower the debt through slashing waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government? Yikes.

Here's how the rising government debt affects you. It raises borrowing costs for things like mortgages and cars, lowers wages from businesses having less money available to invest, and makes goods and services more expensive. Like most things Trump does, someone else ends up footing the bill. This time, it's all of us. Yeah, go ahead. We'll do, yeah.

The West Bank boat yesterday that took place while you were in the country. Oh, yeah, that was weird. That was weird. I was sort of confused by that. Before leaving Israel on Thursday, Vice President J.D. Vance criticized a symbolic vote in Israel's parliament to annex land in the occupied West Bank, which was indeed weird. Vance's comments don't come as too much of a surprise. The Trump administration has made clear it's against annexation, which would pretty much bury any hope for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Wednesday vote by right-wing hardliners looked like an attempt to embarrass Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while Vance was visiting. Netanyahu's office called the vote a, quote, deliberate political provocation by the opposition to sow discord. And Vance didn't hold back his thoughts when speaking to reporters. I mean, look, if it was a political stunt, it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it, the West Bank is not going to be annexed by Israel. The policy of the Trump administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel.

That will continue to be our policy. And if people want to take symbolic votes, they can do that. But we certainly weren't happy about it. In an interview with Time magazine published Thursday, President Trump emphasized the consequences of annexation, saying, quote, Israel would lose all of its support from the United States if that happened. In bonkers clemency news, President Trump pardoned Binance founder Sheng Peng Zhao, the creator of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Zhao was in prison because he didn't stop criminals from using Binance to move hundreds of millions of dollars connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking, and terrorism. But yet, and still, our president pardoned him and managed to blame former President Joe Biden. I don't know him. I don't believe. I believe I've ever met him. But I've been told by a lot of support. He had a lot of support. And they said that what he did is not even a crime. It wasn't a crime. That he was persecuted by the Biden administration. And so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people. And are these very good people in the room with us right now, Donald?

Trump may not have met Zhao, but they're definitely acquainted financially. In May, Bynance agreed to take a $2 billion investment in U.S.D.1, a digital coin known as a stable coin. That coin is issued by World Liberty Financial, a crypto company co-founded by members of the Trump family, meaning the Trump family funded Binance and stands to make tens of millions from it. Trump's pardon of Zhao fits into a broad pattern of his taking a hands-off approach to an industry that spent heavily to help him win the election in 2024. Hands-off, meaning hands-off doing anything to crack down on it. Actually, it kind of seems like he wants a hand out.

from the crypto industry. So to recap, Trump pardoned the crypto guy who peddled cash for Hamas and al-Qaeda. But what else were we expect from the first president who's also a convicted felon? And that's the news. Before we go, the newest episode of Polar Coaster with Dan Pfeiffer just dropped. Dan gets into the latest controversies and responses from Maine Democratic Senate candidate, Graham Platner, the state of the New York City mayoral race, and then answers your Discord questions. To hear the full episode and get even more insights, become a friend of the pod today. You can get 20% off a full year subscription.

You will also get ad-free episodes of your favorite crooked shows, plus bonus content like Polar Coaster, where Dan breaks down the media, the polls, and answer subscriber questions to help you understand the stakes of the midterms. It's the best way to support our work and keep us fighting for democracy. That 20% discount is only available this month. Head to crooked.com slash friends to learn more and subscribe. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, contemplate that former New York governor and current mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo

said on a Thursday radio show appearance that frontrunner Zoron Mamdani would cheer another 9-11 attack and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading, and not just about how Cuomo, who is, shall we say, losing bigly to Mamdani in the polls

and early voting starts tomorrow, has decided to go full 2000s Republican to garner right-wing voters, like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Jane Koston,

and this comes as a right-wing influencer has launched Hot Girls for Cuomo, but forgot to buy the website Hotgirlsfor Cuomo.com, which you should definitely check out. What Today is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Four and Chris Allport.

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