A photo showing indicted NBA coach Chauncey Billups at a poker table alongside two alleged co-conspirators has been obtained by DailyMail.com.
The Trail Blazers coach, 49, was detained by federal agents in a series of raids in the early hours of Thursday morning, in relation to a Mafia-led gambling ring.
In total, the FBI made 31 arrests in connection to the alleged illegal gambling ring – including a number of high-profile names with ties to organized crime families.
Now, in light of Billups’ arrest, an image has emerged which showed Billups at a poker table alongside two alleged co-conspirators back in 2019.
The photo, obtained by DailyMail.com, shows Billups sat at the table with Sophia ‘Pookie’ Wei stood beside him. Meanwhile, in the background of the image, professional poker player Saul Becher can be seen.
Wei and Becher were also arrested on Thursday and named in the FBI’s indictment.
DailyMail.com has obtained a picture showing Chauncey Billups (left) at a poker table in 2019 alongside two alleged co-conspirators; Sophia Wei (middle) and Saul Becher (behind Wei)
Billups was arrested on Thursday morning as part of an FBI investigation into illegal gambling
It’s understood that the picture was taken inside a New York City hotel. Billups can be seen with his hand in the air and a large stack of chips on the table in front of him.
According to the FBI’s indictment, rigged poker games took place in Manhattan, the Hamptons and Las Vegas. The operation is allegedly tied to the Gambino, Bonanno and Genovese crime families.
Billups was allegedly used by members of La Cosa Nostra crime families as one of the ‘face cards’ – professional athletes – to lure victims to the table. The victims were allegedly cheated out of $7million.
In Thursday’s press conference, United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. outlined the breathtaking methods used by the group to rig games.
It is alleged that New York’s notorious crime families would use X-ray tables to tilt games in their favor and wear special high-tech contact lenses to read pre-marked cards.
He said in a press conference on Thursday: ‘The defendants used a variety of very sophisticated cheating technologies, some of which were provided by other defendants in exchange for a share of the profits from the scheme.
‘They used off the shelf shuffling machines that had been secretly altered in order to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand and relay that information to an off-site operator.
‘The off-side operator sent the information via cellphone back to a co-conspirator at the table, who was known as “the quarterback”, and they secretly signaled the information they had received to others at the table and together they used that information in order to win the games and cheat their victims.
Billups, pictured with his wife Piper Riley, is in his fifth year of coaching Portland
FBI Director Kash Patel announced the indictments in a press conference on Thursday
‘Defendants used other cheating technologies, such as poker chip tray analyzers – which is a poker chip try that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera – special contact lenses or glasses that could read pre-marked cards and an X-ray table that could read cards faced down on the table.’
Meanwhile, Miami Heat star Terry Rozier and former Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones have been charged in a separate but related case, which accuses them of turning professional basketball into a criminal sports betting operation.
It is alleged that the teams whose games were affected by the sports gambling scheme are the Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors, and Portland Trail Blazers.
According to the indictment, released on Thursday morning, Rozier and other defendants ‘had access to private information known by NBA players or NBA coaches’ that was likely to affect the outcome of games or players’ performances.
It is alleged they provided that information to other co-conspirators in exchange for either a flat fee or a share of the betting profits.
