Terry Rozier’s lawyer accuses FBI of seeking ‘misplaced glory’ with arrest of NBA player

The lawyer representing Miami heat Player Terry Rozier accused the FBI of seeking “misplaced glory” after the NBA player was arrested Thursday as part of a wide-ranging investigation into an alleged illegal sports betting operation.

Rozier, who was immediately placed on leave by the NBA Following the indictments, he was among more than 30 people arrested in two FBI investigations into illegal sports betting and allegedly rigged poker games with alleged ties to New York-based crime families.

Rozier was not named in the second indictment.

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The NBA player appeared in court Thursday and faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. An attorney for Rozier issued a statement saying his client “is not a player” and had previously been cleared by the NBA. He also took aim at the FBI for not allowing Rozier to “turn himself in” despite an apparent open line of communication.

“They characterized Terry as a subject, not a target, but at 6 a.m. this morning they called me to tell me FBI The agents were trying to arrest him at a hotel. “It is unfortunate that instead of allowing him to turn himself in, they opted for a photo session,” attorney Jim Trusty said in a statement, via The Athletic.

“They wanted the misplaced glory of embarrassing a professional athlete with a criminal ride. That says a lot about the motivations in this case. They seem to be taking the word of spectacularly incredible sources rather than relying on actual evidence of wrongdoing.”

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Rozier is accused of intentionally exiting a 2023 game earlyciting an injury so the co-conspirators could allegedly place bets on their “under” bets. It was initially reported in January that Rozier was being investigated for his involvement in a game on March 23, 2023.

Rozier allegedly told a childhood friend, Deniro Laster, that he was retiring from the game early, citing an injury so Laster could place bets based on the information. Neither Hornets management nor betting companies were informed of Rozier’s scheme, according to the indictment, and Rozier was not listed on the team’s injury report.

Laster then allegedly sold that information to other co-conspirators, and numerous people placed bets totaling approximately $200,000 on Rozier’s “under” bets to hit both parlay bets and straight bets. After Rozier played only nine minutes and never returned, the bets won. Rozier and Laster counted the cash winnings at Rozier’s Charlotte home about a week later, the indictment says.

NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups denies wrongdoing following his arrest in the FBI’s gambling investigation.

Trusty doubled down on his statement in court Thursday, saying the initial investigation cleared Rozier of wrongdoing.

“What I can tell you is that there are a lot of people who are silent about what happened in 2023. But what they told me is that there was an investigation. They interviewed him twice. They took his phone, downloaded everything and, at the end of the day, they said there was nothing to see here and they cleared him.”

Trusty said “FBI agents” were part of that investigation, which he described as “real.”

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“They looked at the same thing and said there was nothing here, but you know, we have a trophy hunt, so we’re going to fight it.”

Ryan Morik of News Digital and The News contributed to this report.

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