Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups was accused of participating in an allegedly rigged poker game two years before the now-suspended Portland Trail Blazers coach was arrested this week on gambling-related charges.
‘There are a lot of stories about [cheating],’ poker player Matt Berkey said on a resurfaced 2023 episode of the Solve For Why podcast. ‘There is one that cropped up – this must have been like five years ago, 2019-ish, I think… where there was this game – it started in LA and then it came to Vegas for a few days and it was all built around Chauncey Billups.’
The clip was rediscovered after Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were among more than 30 arrested as part of a wide-ranging and ongoing federal investigation into illegal gambling. Billups is accused of being a ‘face card’ to lure unsuspecting gamblers into a $7 million Mafia-linked poker scheme, while Rozier allegedly conspired with betters to influence wager outcomes with online sportsbooks.
Both Billups and Rozier are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. They’ve each issued denials through their respective attorneys.
Berkey claims in the 2023 clip that Billups was part of a game he believed to have been rigged, although he stopped short of claiming that the legendary Detroit Pistons guard was in on the alleged scheme.
Portland Trailblazers head coach Chauncey Billups exits the Mark O. Hatfield United States Courthouse after his arraignment on Thursday. Billups is denying the charges against him
Pro poker player Matt Berkey (pictured) said a 2019 poker event, which he believed to be rigged, was built around Chauncey Billups. However, he didn’t accuse Billups of wrongdoing
‘I had heard about the game and the person who told me about it was like: ‘Look, I know the game runners, I’m telling me 100 percent this game is on the up and up,’ Berkey told his co-hosts. ‘I was like: ‘Well I know a lot of the people that are involved that I’m telling you 100 percent that it’s not on the up and up.’
‘And we went back and forth and I agreed that I just wasn’t going to go play it but I had some friends who went and played it – both in LA and Vegas,’ he continued. ‘And it obviously was for sure, confirmed to be cheated…Only the pros are losing.
‘It was basically confirmed among all the pros that the game was cheated but there was just no recourse and they got absolutely flayed. ‘It’s tough whenever you’re dealing somebody high profile like that [Billups] because they carry a lot of weight and hold a lot of power so all you can do is unite together and threaten to publicly out him or extort him in some capacity. In which case: good luck!’
Although Billups’ attorney Chris Heywood was addressing the FBI allegations and not the Berkey’s 2023 story in his denial, he insisted his client is a ‘man of integrity’ and ‘men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others.’
‘He would not jeopardize [his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom] for anything, let alone a card game,’ Heywood said.
The Daily Mail has reached back out for to Heywood for an additional statement on Berkey’s story, but has not heard back.
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)
Berkey went on to mention the 1997 sexual assault allegation against Billups, who was a Boston Celtics rookie at the time. Billups has consistently denied sexually assaulting his accuser, and claims sexual acts were initiated by her and were consensual.
No criminal charges were ever filed in the case. Billups and former Celtics teammate Ron Mercer later settled with their accuser for an undisclosed amount.
Following Billups’ arrest this week, a 2019 photo showing Billups at a poker table alongside two alleged co-conspirators was obtained by DailyMail.com.
The photo 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.
According to the FBI, the illegal poker scheme that resulted in Billups’ arrest involved several high-tech cheating technologies, like special contact lenses or glasses that could read pre-marked cards, as well as an X-ray table capable of reading cards as they lay face down on the table.
