Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones pleaded not guilty past week in a Brooklyn federal court to charges linking him to a high-stakes gambling and information-leak scheme that has rocked the basketball world. Prosecutors allege the 49-year-old former Cleveland Cavaliers guard used his league connections to leak confidential player information — including injuries to stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis — to illegal betting groups, while also taking part in a rigged underground poker network connected to organized crime.
According to the indictment, Jones texted a co-conspirator before a Lakers-Bucks game in February 2023: “Get a big bet on Milwaukee before the info goes public.” The message, prosecutors claim, referred to inside injury updates that had not yet been announced by the team. Federal investigators say those tips were used to place massive wagers that yielded “six-figure profits” for bettors.
But the charges go beyond basketball. The FBI says Jones was also a familiar face in a series of high-roller poker games that were secretly manipulated using marked cards, rigged shufflers, and hidden cameras. The games, allegedly orchestrated by members of a New York-based crime family, recruited celebrities and ex-athletes to lure wealthy opponents. Jones reportedly acted as a “trusted name” to make the tables look legitimate.
After his court appearance, Jones was released on a $200,000 bond, secured by his parents’ home in Texas. His attorney, Michael Feinberg, called the case “an overreach,” saying Jones “never profited illegally and never leaked anything that wasn’t already public.” The next hearing is set for November 24, 2025, and plea discussions are reportedly underway.
Players and NBA push for tighter prop bet curbs to preserve game integrity
The NBA has confirmed it’s reviewing its integrity policies, stressing that any link between insider data and betting activity is “taken extremely seriously.” League officials are working with federal investigators to ensure compliance under its anti-gambling code — an increasingly relevant issue as the U.S. sports-betting market continues to expand.
Beyond basketball, the Jones case underscores how the explosion of legal sports betting has blurred lines between data, competition, and money. When insiders gamble with private info — or when poker games get rigged behind closed doors — it shakes trust not just in the leagues, but in the broader gaming industry that depends on transparency and fair play. In an era when sports betting is booming across the U.S., Damon Jones’ story is a wake-up call: the house always wins — until the feds show up.
