NBA star pleads not guilty to federal gambling conspiracy charges in court

Miami Heat defender Terry Rozier pleaded not blameworthy to counts of conspiracy to perpetrate ligament fraud and wealth laundering related to an amerciable gambling strategy helium allegedly took portion in. The 31-year-old constituent defender formally entered the plea during his arraignment successful Brooklyn national tribunal Monday.

Rozier was arrested for his alleged engagement stemming from a crippled successful 2023 successful which helium played less than 10 minutes, citing a ft injury. Multiple radical placed high-stakes wagers connected Rozier to execute poorly earlier the game, each of whom won.

Rozier's attorney, Jim Trusty, admitted to Fox News Digital soon aft his client's apprehension that Rozier "told a friend" helium would instrumentality himself retired of a crippled early, which is "not a crime." Trusty said Rozier was dealing with a "chronic injury," but Rozier had not been placed connected the Charlotte Hornets' wounded study earlier the game.

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Miami Heat's Terry Rozier leaves Brooklyn national court, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, successful New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

However, Rozier is alleged to person told a puerility friend, Deniro Laster, that helium would instrumentality himself retired of a crippled early, citing an wounded truthful Laster could spot wagers based connected the information. Neither Hornets officials nor betting companies were made alert of Rozier's plan, according to the indictment.

Laster past allegedly sold that accusation to different co-conspirators, and galore radical placed wagers totaling astir $200,000 connected Rozier's "under" prop bets to deed successful some parlay and consecutive wagers. After Rozier played conscionable 9 minutes and ne'er returned, the bets won. Rozier and Laster counted currency winnings astatine Rozier's location successful Charlotte astir a week later, the indictment says.

Rozier, wearing a grey suit, didn’t talk successful tribunal different than to reply the judge’s "yes" oregon "no" questions. He declined to remark afterward, but his lawyer Trusty said his lawsuit was "excited" to statesman mounting his defence against the charges.

Charlotte Hornets defender Terry Rozier (3) looks to walk against the Boston Celtics during the 2nd fractional astatine Spectrum Center. (Nell Redmond/USA Today Sports)

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Trusty said astatine a proceeding aboriginal with the 5 different defendants successful the lawsuit that helium would soon beryllium filing a question to disregard the lawsuit based connected law grounds. He besides urged the justice to proceed with the lawsuit connected a "speedy" timeline, saying Rozier is dealing with "multiple layers of litigation," including arbitration with the NBA, but U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall brushed those concerns aside, saying "arbitration with the league is of nary interest for me."

Hall acceptable the adjacent proceeding successful the lawsuit for March 3 aft proceeding from prosecutors that they would soon beryllium handling implicit "voluminous" amounts of grounds to defence lawyers, including an archetypal acceptable of 1,000 documents and much than 55 gigabytes of data.

Rozier was 1 of much than 30 people, on with NBA figures Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones, who were portion of FBI probes into alleged amerciable gambling with ties to the La Cosa Nostra transgression families. Billups and Jones are alleged to person knowingly participated successful rigged poker games, portion Jones besides allegedly leaked non-public accusation astir NBA games successful bid for those adjacent to him to spot wagers with a competitory advantage.

Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones were arrested successful October. (Jaime Valdez/Imagn Images, Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Greg Nelson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

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Both Billups and Rozier person been placed connected unpaid permission from their teams arsenic their tribunal cases play out.

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