Chauncey Billups pleads not guilty in alleged rigged poker case

NBA coach Chauncey Billups pleaded not guilty in a Brooklyn federal court on Monday, to allegations of participating in a mafia-linked, illegal poker operation in a case that has rocked US professional basketball.

Mr Billups, who appeared in a large federal courtroom in Brooklyn along with roughly 30 other defendants in the case, faces charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

Prosecutors allege that he acted as a “face card”, who gave the illegal poker scheme a veneer of prestige and lured unsuspecting players to rigged games.

US District Judge Ramos E Reyes later set Mr Billups’ bond at $5m, with the coach’s wife and daughter serving as signatories at a subsequent bond hearing.

Mr Billups is currently free, with travel restrictions.

His attorney, Marc Mukasey, formally entered the plea for him on Friday.

Nearly every seat in the large ceremonial courtroom was filled with defendants, their attorneys, family members and observers. The benches were a sea of men and women in navy blue and grey suits, and family members interspersed across the packed benches.

As the hearing commenced, one attendee in the back of the room remarked the scene was one of “controlled chaos.”

Mr Billups said few words, responding with a simple “yes” when the judge asked him if he understood his right to remain silent, and the charges against him.

Later in the hearing, defence attorneys haggled with the government over a proposal to divide the large number of defendants into groups for logistical purposes.

A lawyer speaking on behalf of the group of defendants objected to breaking up the group, arguing that it would lead to gaps in information among the more than two dozen individuals and their attorneys.

Judge Reyes ultimately decided to keep the defendants together for now, meaning that subsequent court appearances would also feature the same packed benches.

The judge estimated starting the trial “by September of next year.” He set the next procedural hearing for 4 March 2026.

Mr Billups, an NBA star Hall of Fame member who was drafted into the league as a player in 1997, is one of several high-profile National Basketball Association figures implicated in a pair of gambling-related indictments unveiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October. Another former player, Damon Jones, also was charged in the case and pleaded not guilty.

This case involves an alleged underground poker operation that prosecutors say featured cheating devices like X-ray tables, specialized contact lenses that could read marked cards, and a compromised shuffling machine to rig the games against unsuspecting highrollers.

A second case, involving allegations that an NBA player and other figures used insider information about games and players’ injuries to game online betting markets, also threw the league into turmoil.

After prosecutors unveiled charges last month, the NBA said it had placed Mr Billups, the coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, on leave from his team.