NBA coach arrested in huge cheating scam; Berkey’s podcast outed the scam in ’23
Chauncey Billups, head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA, and more than two dozen other persons were arrested today as part of an FBI investigation into cheating in poker games and sports betting scams. Poker pro Matt Berkey, in his now-defunct OnlyFriends podcast, talked about Billups and the widely-suspected cheating in private poker games some two years ago.
Billups, according to the indictment, is accused of participating with alleged Mafia members in rigged private underground poker games in New York and other locations – including a private game in Las Vegas in 2019 highlighted by Berkey on his podcast on May 16, 2023 – where people were allegedly cheated out of millions of dollars.
“There was this game, it started in LA and then it came to Las Vegas for a few days, and it was all built all around Chauncey Billups,” Berkey says as he starts about a five-minute-long talk about his belief – and that of unnamed friends of his – the game was rigged and people would be cheated if they played.
“I know a lot of the people that are involved (in organizing the poker game) and I am telling you 100-percent it is not on the up-and-up,” Berkey continued as he recalled a conversation with an unnamed person who asked Berkey to play in the private game. Berkey said the two talked and Berkey decided to not play in the poker game.
The podcast continued with Berkey offering additional details, including discussions with poker players who were in the game, adding the allegation, “it obviously, was, like, for sure confirmed to be cheating.”
Among allegations in the indictment are claims the automatic shuffling machines – specifically the widely-used in poker rooms worldwide Deckmate 2 – was rigged to help participants cheat.
Interestingly, just a week or so before the indictments, Poker pro Doug Polk offered in a video story by WIRED a warning to poker players about playing in underground or private games where this particular shuffling machine is used.
““I have heard so many cheating stories of people using these to cheat players out of their money when it’s not happening at a casino location,” said Polk while interviewed for a story about how players can be cheated, emphasizing he was not talking about the machines when licensed and legally used in casinos.
The indictment highlights how alleged mafia families including Bonanno, Gambino, and Genovese families organized the alleged rigged poker games.
“As alleged, members and associates of organized crime families fixed illegal poker games as part of a highly sophisticated and lucrative fraud scheme to cheat victims out of millions of dollars and conspired with others to perpetrate their frauds,” stated Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “Well-known former NBA players and former professional athletes, acted as ‘Face Cards’ to lure unsuspecting victims to high-stakes poker games, where they were then at the mercy of concealed technology, including rigged shuffling machines and specially designed contacts lenses and sunglasses to read the backs of playing cards, which ensured that the victims would lose big.”
The press release from the US Department of Justice highlights how the shuffle machines would be rigged to determine who would have the winning hand, with that information relayed to players in the game who were part of the alleged cheating ring. Each person arrested and accused of being part of the scam is listed here.
“The defendants Tony Goodson, Shane Hennen, Curtis Meeks, and Robert Stroud supplied the cheating technology. The defendants Ammar Awawdeh, Saul Becher, John Gallo, Zhen Hu, Stroud, and Seth Trustman organized the rigged games,” the press release notes. “Members of the cheating teams included the defendants Nelson Alvarez, Louis Apicella, Chauncey Billups, Eric Earnest, Marco Garzon, Jamie Gilet, Tony Goodson, Kenny Han, Hennen, Horatio Hu, Damon Jones, John Mazzola, Nicholas Minucci, Michael Renzulli, Angelo Ruggiero, Jr., Stroud, Trustman, and Sophia Wei,” the press release continues.
Hennen was previously arrested as part of the investigation into a sports betting scam centered around then-NBA player Johntay Porter. Poker journalist Haley Hintze outlined Hennen’s alleged involvement in cheating LA-area high-stakes private poker games for years.
Not listed in the indictment and not arrested is former NBA player Kevin Garnett, who PokerNews is now alleging was also a player in the 2019 Las Vegas poker game featured in the indictment against Billups and the 30-some others.
Berkey describes parts of the 2019 Las Vegas game, in stories relayed to him by participants, of people who, “clearly did not even understand the rules of No Limit Hold’em,” who would jam hundreds of big blinds worth of money with gutshot draws and win the hands to rake massive pots.
“It was basically confirmed amongst all of the pro’s that the game was cheated,” said Berkey, adding the players cheated felt there was no recourse, no way to get their money back without substantial risk due to Billups and how high profile of a former professional athlete – a 2024 member of the Basketball Hall of Fame – he is.
“This guy beat rape charges, you think he cares about you calling him a cheater?” added Berkey.
Details about the entire indictment are still under review, and we will add to this story as more information is uncovered.
(Photo of Chauncey Billups obtained from his Wikipedia page)
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