In a stunning development now shaking the league, the NBA Gambling Scheme known as “Operation Royal Flush” has placed Chauncey Billups—Hall of Famer and Portland Trail Blazers head coach—at the center of a sprawling federal investigation. Prosecutors allege Billups conspired with organized-crime associates to rig underground poker games and participate in illicit betting activities tied to Mafia-linked gambling networks.
Billups, who appeared Monday at the Theodore Roosevelt United States Courthouse in Brooklyn, pleaded not guilty.
Billups Pleads Not Guilty in High-Profile Federal Case
According to prosecutors, Billups was allegedly the “face card” of a criminal enterprise that used professional athletes’ star power to lure victims into illegal high-stakes poker games—games secretly rigged using X-ray card tables, altered shuffling machines, and other sophisticated cheating technology.
