NBA player Terry Rozier’s lawyer slams FBI after arrest
The lawyer for Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier slammed the FBI on Thursday after his client was arrested as part of officials’ widespread illegal gambling investigation.
Rozier, Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and former NBA coach Damon Jones were among the professional sports figures arrested in the probe.
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“We have represented Terry Rozier for over a year. A long time ago we reached out to these prosecutors to tell them we should have an open line of communication. They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called to tell me FBI agents were trying to arrest him in a hotel,” James Trusty, of Ifrah Law PLLC, said in a statement.
“It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to self surrender they opted for a photo op. They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a perp walk. That tells you a lot about the motivations in this case. They appear to be taking the word of spectacularly in-credible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Terry was cleared by the NBA and these prosecutors revived that non-case. Terry is not a gambler, but he is not afraid of a fight, and he looks forward to winning this fight.”
Rozier was allegedly involved in a scheme to manipulate statistics in order for his alleged co-conspirators to profit from prop bets.
Fox News Digital reached out to the NBA and the Heat for comment.
NBA LEGEND CHAUNCEY BILLUPS, HEAT’S TERRY ROZIER ARRESTED AS PART OF FBI GAMBLING PROBE
The NBA confirmed in January that Rozier was under investigation by federal prosecutors over suspicions of an illegal betting scheme. The Wall Street Journal first reported the Rozier allegations.
The NBA said it looked into the matter at the time and didn’t find any league rules were broken.
“In March 2023, the NBA was alerted to unusual betting activity related to Terry Rozier’s performance in a game between Charlotte and New Orleans,” the league told The Wall Street Journal in January. “The league conducted an investigation and did not find a violation of NBA rules. We are now aware of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York related to this matter and have been cooperating with that investigation.”
The game involving Rozier that is in question was played March 23, 2023, a matchup between the Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans. Rozier played the first 9 minutes, 36 seconds of that game – and not only did not return that night, citing a foot issue, but did not play again that season. Charlotte had eight games remaining and was not in playoff contention, so it did not seem particularly unusual that Rozier was shut down for the season’s final games.
In that March 23 game, Rozier finished with five points, four rebounds and two assists in that opening period – a productive quarter, but well below his usual total output for a full game.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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