Damon Jones Pleads Guilty in Poker Cheating and Inside Sports Betting Cases

Former NBA coach and participant Damon Jones admitted his function as a star “face card” used to draw whales to high-stakes rigged poker video games in a Brooklyn courtroom yesterday, changing into the primary individual to plead responsible within the fraud case.

He additionally pleaded responsible to offering inside info to gamblers when he was teaching the Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers. The 2 circumstances are separate.

“I’d wish to sincerely apologize to the courtroom, my household, my friends and in addition the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation,” Jones stated Tuesday, in accordance with The New York Instances. “I knew these video games had been rigged and that gamers had been being cheated. I’m actually sorry to everybody concerned for my actions.”

Chauncey Billups, who has been placed on go away because the Portland Blazers head coach, can also be being accused of being a “face card” to draw gamers to poker video games that used high-tech to cheat gamers. Corrupted shuffle machines, tiny cameras, and even a poker desk with an x-ray unit had been used to cheat gamers out of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}, says the Feds.

Billups pleaded not responsible within the case. He’s scheduled to go to trial Nov. 2.

Billups and Jones had been two of 31 individuals charged by the Division of Justice within the poker dishonest scandal.

“As proven by his responsible pleas immediately, Damon Jones transformed his fame and ties to skilled basketball right into a multi-faceted legal betting operation.  He used personal locker room and medical info from a number of NBA groups to cheat reputable sportsbooks.  He additionally, individually, lured unsuspecting victims to high-stakes rigged poker video games,” said United States Legal professional Joe Nocella in a press launch.  “Jones will now face the implications for his corrupt conduct.  Insider betting and rigged poker schemes erode the integrity of American sports activities and truthful contest.  This Workplace will proceed in its sturdy custom of holding accountable anybody who seeks to revenue via fraud and corruption.”

The DOJ estimates that almost $10 million was cheated within the poker video games, which had been run by the New York mafia often called La Cosa Nostra. Federal sentencing tips name for a punishment of 63 to 78 months, however prosecutors agreed to take 15 months off it if Jones entered a responsible plea by April 30, in accordance with the AP.

He may even face 21 to 27 months within the sport’s betting case, the place prosecutors say he handed on inside details about sure participant’s availability to gamblers. Jones is free till he’s sentenced Jan. 6, 2027.