Basketball legend Gilbert Arenas’s claims that he would ‘snitch’ in the wake of his arrest for illegal gambling have resurfaced after the NBA was gripped by another betting scandal.
The league was plunged into chaos on Thursday when Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups were among more than 30 people arrested as part of an FBI investigation into illegal gambling.
The explosive raids came less than three months after Arenas, a three-time NBA All-Star, was arrested on similar charges.
The 43-year-old is accused of running a high-stakes illegal poker ring out of a mansion that he owned in Encino, California.
Arenas pleaded not guilty during a court appearance in July and was released pending trial after paying a $50,000 bond. Yet, following his release, he issued a defiant response to his arrest during a live stream.
Rather than lying low, Arenas bizarrely declared that he was unconcerned by the legal proceedings as he suggested he would divulge information to the federal authorities in exchange for leniency.
Gilbert Arenas’s claimed that he would ‘snitch’ in the wake of his arrest for illegal gambling
The claims resurfaced on Thursday as the NBA was gripped by another gambling scandal involving an explosive FBI investigation that included the arrest of Chauncey Billups
‘Good luck in court. I’m pretty sure I ain’t gonna be there when it’s starting to go, cause, yeah, I’m snitching,’ he said in the live YouTube video.
‘Hey, listen… Ain’t nothing wrong with snitching, man,’ he later added. ‘It ain’t nothing wrong with just telling, man.’
Arenas appeared to drop another hint on Thursday just hours after the arrests of Rozier, Billups and former Cleveland Cavaliers player Damon Jones.
‘Got that Informant Lunch special this morning #Agentzero,’ he wrote on social media alongside a photo of him clutching a brown paper bag with ‘Informant Lunch’ written on the side.
There is nothing to suggest that Arenas following through on his claim or was involved in the proceedings leading to Thursday’s arrests.
Six defendants are accused of participating in an insider sports betting conspiracy that exploited confidential information about NBA athletes and teams, said Joseph Nocella, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, in a press conference on Thursday.
He called it ‘one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting became widely legalized in the United States.’
‘My message to the defendants who´ve been rounded up today is this: Your winning streak has ended. Your luck has run out,’ Nocella said.
Arenas made a joke about an ‘informant’ on social media just hours after the arrests
The Portland Trail Blazers is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families
The second case involves 31 defendants in a nationwide scheme to rig illegal poker games, Nocella said. The defendants include former professional athletes accused of using technology to steal millions of dollars in underground poker games in the New York area that were backed by Mafia families, he said.
Rozier is accused of participating in the illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information.
The veteran guard, while playing for the Hornets, allegedly told people he was planning to leave the game early with a ‘supposed injury,’ allowing them to place wagers that raked in thousands of dollars.
Billups, meanwhile, is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families.
He is said to have been used as a ‘face card’ – a professional athlete with star power – to attract victims to the table.
Both men face money laundering and wire fraud conspiracy charges and are expected to make initial court appearances later Thursday.
Meanwhile, from September 2021 to July 2022, Arenas allegedly rented out a mansion that he owned in Encino – north of Hollywood – ‘for the purpose of hosting high-stakes illegal poker games’, according to officials.
The US Attorney’s Office says a man named Arthur Kats staged the mansion to host the games ‘at Arenas’ direction’ and also ‘found co-conspirators to host the games, and collected rent from the co-conspirators on Arenas’ behalf.’
Terry Rozier is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information
Arenas is accused of renting out this Encino mansion that he owned to house the operation
Officials say that the operation even included a poker felt labeled ‘ARENAS POKER CLUB’ – featuring an image of Arenas in his basketball uniform and his No. 0.
Named alongside Arenas – known in his playing days as ‘Agent Zero’ – are five co-conspirators who have been charged with operating and illegal gambling business.
The other five people charged are as follows: Israeli suspected organized crime figure Yevgeni Gershman, 49, Evgenni Tourevski, 48, Allan Austria, 52, Yarin Cohen, 27, and Ievgen Krachun, 43. Along with Arenas, those five were detained without incident by LAPD, Homeland Security, and the IRS.
If convicted, the defendants face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.
