Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups is seen in a 2019 photo playing poker with two people he was charged Thursday in a new indictment accusing them of participating in rigged poker games.
The photo, obtained by The Post, shows the 49-year-old NBA Detroit Pistons champion sitting at a poker table with stacks of chips in front of him and appearing to talk to another player sitting next to him, while alleged co-conspirators Sophia Wei and Saul Becher can both be seen behind him.
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You can see Wei standing directly behind Billups, holding a handful of chips, while Becher appears a few feet behind them.
In a sweeping indictment unsealed Thursday against Billups and 30 others, the sports legend is accused of acting as a “face card” that helped attract unwitting victims, or of “fishing” for large amounts of money to be handed out in fixed poker games.
The FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker gaming ring backed by New York City’s organized crime families.
- Ernest Aiello – reputed Bonanno gangster
- Nelson Alvarez
- Louis Apicella
- Ammar Awawdeh
- Saul Becher – professional poker player
- Chauncey Billups – Portland Trail Blazers coach, NBA Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA Champion
- Matthew Daddino
- Erik Ernst
- Lee Fama – professional poker player
- Johannes Gallo
- Marco Garzon
- Thomas Gelardo – aka ‘Tommy Juice’, known Lucchese gangster charged in 2013 for beating a porn star girlfriend
- Jamie Gilet
- Tony Goodson
- Kenny Han
- Shane Hair
- Osman Hoti
- Horatio Hu
- Zhen Hu
- Damon Jones – NBA player from 1998 to 2009
- Joseph Lanni
- Johannes Mazzola
- Curtis Meeks
- Nicholas Minucci
- Michael Renzulli
- Anthony Ruggero Jr.
- Anthony Shnayderman
- Robert Stroud
- Seth Trustman
- Sophia Wei
- Julius Ziliani
Alleged gangsters ran the rigged gambling game, paying Billups and former NBA player Damon Jones, 49, to participate in the games for victims who wanted the chance to play alongside former professional athletes.
The athletes were sometimes told to lose and other times to win.
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