NEW YORK (AP) — A hot hand on the hardwood, former NBA player Damon Jones once proclaimed himself “the best shooter in the world.” As an assistant coach, he helped guide the Cleveland Cavaliers to their only championship in 2016.
But after his playing and coaching days ended, Jones betrayed the game he loved, solemnly admitting in court Tuesday that he exploited his fame and insider access to profit from sports betting and rigged poker games.
Jones, 49, became the first person to plead guilty in a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and other basketball figures. Sports bettor Marves Fairley is poised to become the second.
During back-to-back hearings in Brooklyn federal court, Jones entered guilty pleas to two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud for his role in schemes to defraud major sportsbooks, including DraftKings and FanDuel, and filch millions of dollars from unwitting poker players.
Sitting alongside his lawyer and reading from a prepared statement, Jones acknowledged that he aided the betting conspiracy with “insider information that I obtained as a result of my relationships as a former player.”
“I would like to sincerely apologize to the court, my family, my peers and also the National Basketball Association,” Jones told Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo.
Jones said the sports betting conspiracy, which ran from December 2022 to March 2024, involved using his knowledge of nonpublic information about injuries to NBA stars, including his one-time teammate, LeBron James, to gain an edge in sports bets.
Jones acknowledged that his actions not only broke the law, but that they also violated the NBA’s code of conduct and the sports betting websites’ terms of service.
A ‘face card’ for rigged poker games
At the second of his two hearings, Jones admitted he was paid to act as a “face card” at poker games in Miami and the Hamptons by using his NBA celebrity to “lure high-end bettors” to the table.
“I knew these games were rigged and that players were being cheated,” Jones said as he read from another statement. He apologized again, telling Marutollo: “I’m really sorry to everyone involved for my actions.”
Jones and his lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, declined to comment as they left the courtroom. Swarmed outside by reporters, photographers and TV cameras, Jones said only: “To God be the glory.”
He remains free on bail and won’t be sentenced until early next year, Marutollo said.
Jones is scheduled for back-to-back sentencing hearings on Jan. 6 — before Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall in the sports betting case and before Judge Ramon Reyes in the poker games case.
In the sports betting case, sentencing guidelines call for a punishment of 21 to 27 months in prison. In the poker games case, Jones would face 63 to 78 months in prison, but prosecutors agreed to subtract 15 months from the sentence in exchange for Jones pleading guilty before April 30. That would put his potential sentence at 48 to 63 months in prison if the judge follows the guidelines.
Jones faces a longer prison sentence in the poker games case in part because it involved more than 10 victims and a loss to them of more than $9.5 million.
As part of his plea agreements, Jones agreed to give up a total of $73,000 and, at sentencing, could be ordered to pay additional sums as restitution.
The first defendant to plead guilty
None of Jones’ co-defendants have shown a willingness to plead guilty. On Monday, prosecutors said they were seeking more charges against another sports betting defendant, former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
Jones was arrested in October along with Rozier and Chauncey Billups, who was head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers and is a Basketball Hall of Famer.
Others charged include reputed members of the Gambino, Genovese and Bonanno crime families, which benefited from the poker scheme and used violence and threats to ensure the repayment of debts and success of the operation, prosecutors said.
Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes.
Originally from Galveston, Texas, Jones earned more than $20 million playing for 10 teams in 11 seasons from 1999 to 2009. He and James played together in Cleveland from 2005 to 2008, and Jones served as an unofficial assistant coach for James’ Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-2023 season.
According to prosecutors, Jones sold or attempted to sell nonpublic information to bettors that James was injured and wouldn’t be playing in a Feb. 9, 2023, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, texting an unnamed co-conspirator: “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out” and “Bet enough so Djones can eat.”
James wasn’t listed on the Lakers’ injury report at the time of the text, but the NBA’s all-time scoring leader was later ruled out of the game because of a lower body injury and the Lakers lost the game 115-106, according to prosecutors.
On Jan. 15, 2024, Fairley, the sports bettor, paid Jones approximately $2,500 for a tip that Anthony Davis, a Lakers’ forward and center at the time, would see limited playing time against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of an injury, prosecutors said.
Fairley then placed a $100,000 bet on the Thunder to win, prosecutors said, but the tip was wrong. Davis played his usual minutes, scored 27 points and collected 15 rebounds in a 112-105 Lakers win, prompting Fairley to demand a refund of his $2,500 fee, prosecutors said.
In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors said Fairley intends to plead guilty in the sports betting case and a separate case in which he and others are accused of scheming to obtain nonpublic information to bet on college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association games.
A message seeking comment was left for Fairley’s lawyer.
In the poker scheme, prosecutors say Jones was among former NBA players used to lure unwitting gamblers to poker games that were rigged using altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table.
According to the indictment, Jones was paid $2,500 for a game in the Hamptons where he was instructed to cheat by paying close attention to others involved in the scheme. When in doubt, Jones was told to fold his hand, prosecutors said.
In response, according to prosecutors, Jones texted: “Y’all know I know what I’m doing!!”