Damon Jones, a former NBA player and coach, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to two counts of wire fraud conspiracy — one tied to an insider betting scheme that exploited confidential NBA information and another involving rigged illegal poker games across the country, federal prosecutors announced. Combined losses in both cases exceed $10 million.
Jones, 49, of Houston, played for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005 to 2008 before transitioning to coaching roles with the Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. Prosecutors say he leveraged his NBA connections and celebrity status to fuel criminal enterprises in two separate but related schemes.
In the first case, United States v. Earnest, et al., Jones and associates obtained non-public information from multiple NBA teams, players and coaches between December 2022 and March 2024, then funneled that intelligence through a network of bettors who placed wagers at online sportsbooks and retail betting outlets. Those bettors falsely represented that their wagers complied with betting companies’ rules while concealing that the bets were based on confidential team information.
In the second case, United States v. Aiello, et al., Jones admitted to serving as a “Face Card” — a former professional athlete recruited to lure unsuspecting victims into high-stakes, secretly rigged poker games. The scheme, which dated to at least 2019, used wireless cheating technology and involved a network of game organizers, cheating teams, technology suppliers, money launderers and members of the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese organized crime families, who backed games in the New York area and took a share of the proceeds. Jones also admitted to being a member of cheating teams at poker tables.
United States Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York said Jones “converted his fame and ties to professional basketball into a multi-faceted criminal betting operation” and vowed to hold accountable “anyone who seeks to profit through fraud and corruption.”
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Jones “traded his reputation for greed and fraud,” while New York Waterfront Commission Executive Director Phoebe Sorial noted the scheme enriched “some of the most notorious La Cosa Nostra crime families.”
The case was announced jointly by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and the NYPD.
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