Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups can be seen in a photo from 2019 playing poker with two people he was charged alongside Thursday in a new bombshell 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 be speaking to another player sitting beside him, as alleged co-conspirators Sophia Wei and Saul Becher can both be seen standing behind him.
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Wei can be seen standing directly behind Billups, holding a handful of chips while Becher appears several 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” who helped to attract unwitting victims, or “fish” into dishing out large amounts of cash in fixed poker games.
The FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker game ring backed by the New York City organized crime families.
- Ernest Aiello — reputed Bonanno mobster
- 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
- Eric Earnest
- Lee Fama — professional poker player
- John Gallo
- Marco Garzon
- Thomas Gelardo — aka “Tommy Juice,” reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for beating porn star girlfriend
- Jamie Gilet
- Tony Goodson
- Kenny Han
- Shane Henne
- Osman Hoti
- Horatio Hu
- Zhen Hu
- Damon Jones — NBA player from 1998 to 2009
- Joseph Lanni
- John Mazzola
- Curtis Meeks
- Nicholas Minucci
- Michael Renzulli
- Anthony Ruggiero Jr.
- Anthony Shnayderman
- Robert Stroud
- Seth Trustman
- Sophia Wei
- Julius Ziliani
Alleged mobsters ran the rigged gambling and paid 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 told to win.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
