Terry Rozier, an N.B.A. player with the Miami Heat, pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court on Monday to charges that he manipulated his performance to wager hundreds of thousands of dollars in an illegal sports-betting scheme.
The allegations against Mr. Rozier are part of several recent federal indictments involving gambling that have rocked the world of professional sports.
In October, Chauncey Billups, a former N.B.A. star and current head coach, was charged with running rigged poker games, along with 30 other defendants. Last month, two Major League Baseball pitchers with the Cleveland Guardians were charged with tipping off gamblers to specific pitches they would be throwing. All have pleaded not guilty.
In his first appearance in Federal District Court on Monday, Mr. Rozier, wearing a gray suit, responded briefly to questions from Judge Clay Kaminsky. His lawyer, Jim Trusty, entered a plea of not guilty to charges of money laundering conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.
Mr. Rozier, 31, has been placed on leave from the N.B.A., where he is in his 11th season and has made a reputation as a capable scorer who can slot in at point guard or shooting guard. He played at the University of Louisville for two seasons before starting his professional career with the Boston Celtics in 2015. He joined the Charlotte Hornets in 2019 and was traded to the Miami Heat in 2023.
Mr. Rozier’s case has highlighted the rise of prop bets, which have made information about a player’s participation in forthcoming games particularly valuable. Unlike wagers on a game’s outcome, prop bets are tied to an individual athlete’s performance. They have also drawn attention to sports’ leagues entanglement with gambling companies in the era of legal sports betting.
While playing for the Hornets in 2023, prosecutors said, Mr. Rozier told his childhood friend and co-conspirator De’Niro Laster that he would be exiting a March 23 game against the New Orleans Pelicans early with foot discomfort. He exited after playing just 10 minutes and scoring just 5 points, well below his season average of more than 20.
Mr. Laster, working with other co-conspirators and a network of bettors, then wagered more than $200,000 on Mr. Rozier’s underperformance, making tens of thousands of dollars in profits, prosecutors said.
Mr. Rozier and Mr. Laster, a former college football player, attended the same high school in the Cleveland suburbs, where they excelled in their respective sports. Mr. Laster, who played at the University of Minnesota and the University of Kentucky, also made his first appearance in court on Monday, sitting feet away from Mr. Rozier. He pleaded not guilty.
After the March 2023 game, prosecutors said, Mr. Laster picked up his share of the fraudulent winnings in cash from a co-conspirator and then drove through the night to Mr. Rozier’s home in Charlotte, N.C., to count their spoils together.
Santul Nerkar is a Times reporter covering federal courts in Brooklyn.
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