Hours before former NBA player Terry Rozier’s lawyers were set to argue that his sports betting scandal case should be dismissed Monday, federal prosecutors said they will bring new charges.
“We have developed evidence that Mr. Rozier solicited and accepted a bribe,” said Kaitlin Ferrell, a prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York, according to a report in The Athletic. Ferrell revealed that the government had shared this information with Rozier’s attorneys two hours before the hearing.
The Eastern District of New York is the fulcrum of multiple gambling cases brought this year. Tuesday, defendant Damon Jones is set to change his plea to guilty. Jones, who played for 11 seasons in the NBA, is charged with one count of wire fraud conspiracy and two counts of money laundering. Jones initially pled not guilty in November, but he is expected to change his plea in both a wide-reaching sports betting investigation and in a rigged poker-game case that also involved NBA great Chauncey Billups.
Jones will be the first defendant in either case to plead guilty. In the sports betting case, Jones is accused of providing inside information that LeBron James would not play in a Feb. 9, 2023, game against Milwaukee. Jones is alleged to have texted to gamblers: “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out! [Player 3] is out tonight. Bet enough so Djones can eat.”
New charges could affect current charges
Farrell said in court that Rozier “deprived the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets of his honest services,” and prosecutors are planning in May to bring charges including bribery in sports and honest services wire fraud.
Courthouse News Service reported Monday that Rozier’s lawyer said the new charges indicate that the federal government plans to bring “new theories,” but Farrell said “we’re not changing our theory.”
The judge did not rule on the motion to dismiss, and the promise of new charges would mean that even if Judge D’Arcy Hall dismisses the current charges, the new charges could move forward. Hall told the lawyers, per Courthouse News Service, that she’s “not going to do this twice,” and that they should consider the new charges as they plot strategy.
Rozier is accused of fixing games and is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each count has a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. He pled not guilty in December and was released on $3 million bond. At that time, Rozier was also banned from gambling.
Rozier a free agent, but getting paid
The Miami Heat waived Rozier April 10, and no other team has offered him a contract. Since charges were filed, Rozier has been on leave, but an arbitrator said the league must continue to pay his $26.4 million salary.
Per court documents, Rozier told his friend Deniro Laster — who was also arrested and charged in the case — that he would leave a March 2023 game early. That kind of information can be used by sports bettors to make proposition bets on anything from the amount of playing time to over/unders around a player’s performance.
In this case, federal prosecutors say Laster placed bets on Rozier’s playing time. Rozier was playing for the Charlotte Hornets.
Texas Tech player enters gambling rehab
In another major sports betting case, ESPN Monday reported that Texas Tech announced transfer quarterback Brendan Sorsby is entering a residential program for gambling addiction. Sorsby is under investigation by the NCAA for placing online bets, which the association bans its athletes from doing. Among the accusations is that Sorsby bet on Indiana football when he was a redshirt freshman there.
