Ex-NBA player Damon Jones to be first to plead guilty in US gambling case

Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones is expected to become the first person to plead guilty in a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and other basketball figures.

A change-of-plea hearing for Jones is scheduled for April 28 in Brooklyn federal court, according to a court filing Thursday. It was originally set for May 6, but was moved at the request of the parties.

Jones, 49, had previously pleaded not guilty to separate indictments charging him with profiting from rigged poker games and providing sports bettors with non-public information about injuries to stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Jones is charged in both cases with wire fraud conspiracy and money-laundering conspiracy.

A message seeking comment was left for his lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery. He told a judge at Jones’s arraignments in November that they “may be engaging in plea negotiations”.

Jones, a onetime teammate of James, was arrested last October along with Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and others, including a sports bettor accused of cashing in on injury information.

Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes. He remains free on bail.

A native of Galveston, Texas, Jones earned more than $20m playing for 10 teams in 11 seasons from 1999 to 2009. He and James played together in Cleveland from 2005 to 2008, and Jones served as an unofficial assistant coach for James’s Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-2023 season.

According to prosecutors, Jones sold or attempted to sell non-public information to bettors that James was injured and wouldn’t be playing in a February 9, 2023, game against the Milwaukee Bucks, texting an unnamed co-conspirator: “Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out.”

James wasn’t listed on the Lakers’ injury report at the time of the text message, but the all-time scoring leader for the National Basketball Association (NBA) was later ruled out of the game because of a lower-body injury, according to prosecutors, and the Lakers lost the game 115-106.

On January 15, 2024, prosecutors said, sports bettor Marves Fairley paid Jones approximately $2,500 for a tip that Davis, the Lakers’ forward and centre at the time, would see limited playing time against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of an injury.

Fairley then placed a $100,000 bet on the Thunder to win, prosecutors said, but the tip was wrong. Davis played his usual minutes, scored 27 points and collected 15 rebounds in a 112-105 Lakers win, prompting Fairley to demand a refund of his $2,500 fee, prosecutors said.

In the poker scheme, according to prosecutors, Jones was among former NBA players used to lure unwitting players into poker games that were rigged using altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table.