NBA player Terry Rozier pleaded not guilty Wednesday to new charges of sports bribery and honest services wire fraud conspiracy stemming from what authorities allege was his role in a sprawling sports betting scheme.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, claimed Rozier solicited and accepted a $100,000 bribe in exchange for tipping off a group of bettors about his plan to leave a game early because of an injury.
Rozier was playing for the Charlotte Hornets and logged just 9½ minutes during a March 23, 2023, game in New Orleans before he checked out with an alleged injury.
Prosecutors aren’t accusing Rozier of specifically throwing the game, per se. Instead, they say Rozier’s “purported injury” allowed his co-defendant bettors to place “more than $200,000 in wagers predicting Rozier’s ‘under’ statistics.”
The indictment didn’t specify what “under” prop bets were attached to Rozier that night.
Rozier averaged 21.1 points and 5.1 assists a game that season. He scored just five points that evening.
Rozier wore a gray suit and appeared relaxed at his appearance Wednesday before Magistrate Judge Lara K. Eshkenazi in Brooklyn.
He created a “predetermined bribe arrangement” with other co-defendants, including Marves Fairley and De’Niro Laster, to withdraw from the game so lucrative wagers could be placed, according to the superseding indictment.
Rozier is alleged to have played better than anticipated and collected four rebounds during the game, causing his bribe to drop to $70,000, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors also say in the superseding indictment that Rozier deprived the NBA and the Hornets “of the intangible right of the honest and faithful services of Rozier through bribery and kickbacks.”
After the hearing, Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, spoke about his request for the court to modify Rozier’s release conditions by lifting a no-contact restriction involving members of the Hornets.
Trusty has argued that leaving the condition in effect could jeopardize Rozier’s ability to participate in the NBA as the free agency process begins this month. The Miami Heat waived Rozier in April.
“The NBA literally has flagrantly fouled the presumption of innocence,” Trusty said. “They should be ashamed of themselves.”
Trusty said Rozier “stands strong when they change different theories to come up with new charges but don’t have new facts.”
“He’s strong now. He’ll be strong when his day of exoneration comes,” Trusty told reporters outside the courthouse.
Co-defendant Laster wore a white button-down shirt and looked straight ahead during most of his appearance. He also pleaded not guilty to the bribery-related charges Wednesday.
Another co-defendant, Shane Hennen, pleaded not guilty in a courtroom appearance later Wednesday.
Rozier already faces two federal charges — conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering — from the initial indictment filed last year. He was accused of leaking nonpublic information about his plan to underperform at the 2023 game.
The fraudulent wagers resulted in tens of thousands of dollars in profits for bettors, prosecutors said.
Rozier pleaded not guilty to the initial charges last year. In December, he requested that the case be dismissed, arguing that the government had overstepped by charging him with fraud.
The judge presiding over the case has yet to rule on Rozier’s request to throw out the case.
Last year, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York brought two massive illegal gambling cases: one involving the rigging of Mafia-backed poker games and the other about using insider information to bet on NBA games.
Together, the two alleged criminal operations generated over $10 million, according to prosecutors.
More than 30 people, including members and associates of four major Mafia crime families, Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and ex-NBA player Damon Jones, have been ensnared in the scheme.
Billups has maintained his innocence.
Jones pleaded guilty in April in federal court, where he admitted feeding inside information to bettors and helping orchestrate fixed poker games.
He is set to be sentenced early next year.
