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SOURCE: bet.com
Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, who is being accused of luring gamblers to a fixed mob-run poker game, has pleaded not guilty.
The Hall of Fame point guard was in court Monday, wearing a gray suit, along with 30 other members of the alleged scheme, CNN reports.
“We enter a plea of not guilty, your honor,” said his attorney, Marc Mukasey.
Billups is charged in an elaborate scheme in which he acted as the “facecard” to lure in several dupes under the guise that they’d get to play with a five-time NBA All-Star.
These marks had no idea that they were playing in rigged poker games.
Billups was used to attract the “fish” to underground games in Miami, New York, Las Vegas, and the Hamptons. What the men didn’t know was that the games were rigged with “card-shuffling machines, poker chip trays and even special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards, according to the indictments handed down by investigators,” CNN reports.
The victims were reportedly fleeced out of tens of millions of dollars. One victim is reported to have lost $1.8 million in the rigged games, which in some cases, used X-ray tables to show the cards when they were face down.
Tiago Splitter is taking on head coaching duties while Billups is facing trial.
All of the men have been charged together, and all are due back in court on March 4, when they will have access to the large ceremonial courtroom.
“I want things to start in September of next year,” U.S. District Judge Ramon Reyes also told prosecutors, CNN reports.
Billups, who is out on a $5 million bond, had to turn over his passport and report any travel to the court.
“Come to court when you’re supposed to, don’t interact with any witnesses who are going to testify against you, and don’t commit any crimes,” Reyes told Billups.
