Scandal!

This is really more Paul’s beat, but…

Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier have been arrested as part of a pair of investigations related to illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, authorities announced Thursday.

Billups and Rozier were among a total of 34 people arrested. The arrests were the result of a yearslong investigation covering 11 states and involving tens of millions of dollars, FBI director Kash Patel said.

Rozier, who was arrested Thursday morning at a hotel in Orlando, Florida, is accused of participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information. The Heat lost their season opener to the Magic on Wednesday, when Rozier did not play due to a coach’s decision.

Billups, who was arrested in Oregon, is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families, authorities said.

Both Billups and Rozier are expected to make initial court appearances later Thursday in Oregon and Florida, respectively.

I like the old school trappings! Mafia! Rigged poker games! But apparently that’s alongside new-fangled sports betting fraud, all of which it was totally impossible to predict…

Photo Credit: By Erik Drost – Chauncey Billups, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114299319