poker

Poker chip trays that can secretly read cards.

Glasses that can detect card markings.

Rigged underground games run by the New York mafia.

NBA figures exchanging insider information as part of illegal betting schemes.

These are some of the wild allegations filed in two criminal complaints this week by federal prosecutors in one of the most sweeping and sensational betting scandals in recent professional sports history.

At the heart of one of the cases, prosecutors charged several figures using private insider NBA information, such as when players would sit out, to help others profit in leveraged bets online.

But the allegations go far deeper, including a connection to the Lakers, the mob and more.

Here are four key allegations:

1. High-roller games with high-tech cheating

Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, who played with the Clippers for two seasons and later was a member of Clippers coach Ty Lue’s staff before earning the Trail Blazers head coaching job, is charged with rigging underground poker games that three of New York’s Mafia families backed, authorities said.

Billups and Damon Jones, a retired NBA player, according to one of the two indictments revealed Thursday, were used to attract wealthy players to the games and were referred to as “Face Cards.” But according to the federal indictment, the two were part of the cheating teams. In exchange for taking part in the games, the “Face Cards” received part of the winnings.

The teams, according to court filings, used rigged shuffling machines that read deck cards and predicted which player on the table would have the best poker hand and relayed that information to someone, referred to as the operator. That person then relayed that information to one member of the cheating team on the table, known as the “Quarterback,” or “Driver,” according to court filings.

In some cases, the cheating teams used poker chip trays that could secretly read the cards on the table. In other cases, players used glasses that could detect special markings on the cards.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella of Brooklyn said at a press conference said the defendants used “special contact lenses or eyeglasses that could read pre-marked cards” and tables that “could read cards face down on the table … because of the X-ray technology.”

He cited “other cheating technologies, such as poker chip tray analyzers, which is a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera,.”

“Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others,” Chris Heywood, Billups’ attorney, said in a statement Tuesday night. “To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his Hall-of-Fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.”

2. Alleged mob ties

The games in the New York area were backed by three of New York’s organized crime families: the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese Mafia families, authorities said. According to the complaint, at least a dozen of the 31 defendants were associates or members of those three families.

Among those named in the indictment was Joseph Lanni, identified as a captain in the Gambino crime family. Known as “Joe Brooklyn,” Lanni was also named as a defendant in a 2023 racketeering, extortion and witness retaliation indictment, where members and associates of the Gambino family were accused of trying to take control of New York’s carting and demolition industries.

Last week, Lanni pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, according to court records.

3. A tip about LeBron James

Federal prosecutors allege that between December 2022 and March 2024, the defendants , used inside information to defraud bettors, including which players would be sitting out games and when players would “pull themselves out of games early for purported injuries or illnesses.”

Damon Jones, a retired NBA player and friend of LeBron James is accused of inside information for sports betting related to the Lakers and specifically “Player 3,” a prominent NBA player.

Although the indictment does not name the player — the date referenced in 2023 when the player sat out matches when James sat out against the Milwaukee Bucks due to ankle soreness. According to the indictment, Jones, a friend of James, profited from the non-public information.

“Get a big bet on Milwaukee tonight before the information is out!” Jones texted an unnamed co-conspirator, according to the indictment. “[Player 3] is out tonight.”

On Thursday, the Lakers declined to comment on the investigation. A person close to LeBron James told The Times that the Lakers star didn’t know that Jones was allegedly selling injury information to gamblers placing bets. Neither James or the Lakers have been accused of any wrongdoing.

3. A ‘shady’ injury

According to the indictment, when Terry Rozier was playing for the Hornets, he told others he was planning to leave the game early with a “supposed injury,” allowing others to place wagers that raked in thousands of dollars, New York Police Commissioner Jennifer Tisch said.

Rozier and other defendants allegedly provided that information to other co-conspirators in exchange for either a flat fee or a share of betting profits.

Another game involving Rozier that has been in question was played a day earlier, on March 23, 2023, between the Hornets and the New Orleans Pelicans. Rozier played the first 9 minutes and 36 seconds of that game — and not only did not return that night, citing a foot issue, but also did not play again that season.

Posts still online from March 23, 2023, show that some bettors were furious with sportsbooks that evening when it became evident that Rozier was not going to return, with many turning to social media to say that something “shady” had gone on regarding the prop bets involving his stats for that night.

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What are the allegations?

Which players have been arrested?

What has the NBA said about the allegations?

Who are New York’s notorious ‘Five Families’?

Former NBA All-Star is among six indicted on US federal charges for conducting illegal gambling at his California mansion.

Former NBA All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas and five other defendants have been arrested on a federal indictment alleging they operated an illegal gambling business running high-stakes poker games at Arenas’s mansion in Encino, California.

Arenas, 43, is charged with one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, one count of operating an illegal gambling business and one count of making false statements to federal investigators.

He was scheduled to make his initial appearance and be arraigned on Wednesday afternoon in the United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. If convicted, he would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for each count.

Those arrested on Wednesday included 49-year-old Yevgeni Gershman, described as a suspected organised crime figure from Israel, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California.

Arenas and the other defendants operated an illegal gambling business from September 2021 to July 2022, according to the indictment that was unsealed on Wednesday.

Arenas rented out the Encino mansion for the co-conspirators to host the illegal “Pot Limit Omaha” poker games, among other illegal games, with a fee charged from each pot either as a percentage or a fixed amount per hand.

Gershman hired women who were paid in tips and served drinks, provided massages and offered companionship to the poker players, with the women charged a percentage of their earnings by the business operators, per the indictment. Chefs, valets and armed security guards were also hired to staff the games.

Arenas was a three-time All-Star, and All-NBA second-team selection in 2006-07 and third team in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

He averaged 20.7 points, 5.3 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 552 regular-season games (455 starts) for the Golden State Warriors (2001-03), Washington Wizards (2003-10), Orlando Magic (2010-11) and Memphis Grizzlies (2012).

His NBA career was overshadowed by an incident in December 2009 in which he and Washington teammate Javaris Crittenton brought guns into the locker room two days after having a dispute on a flight during a card game.

Arenas pleaded guilty to felony gun possession and was suspended for the final 50 games of the 2009-2010 NBA season.

The Warriors selected Arenas in the second round (31st overall) of the 2001 NBA Draft out of Arizona.

Seeing the casino scene is easy, but natural poker players can spot the two jokers in under five seconds.

It’s time to put your mind to the test by having a crack at the brainteaser below.

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This image is known as an optical illusion, meaning there could be other less obvious elements to be found.

The casino scene and the cards held in one player’s hand, are clearly visible.

But only those with eagle eyes and the mind of a poker player will be able to spot the two Jokers in the image, from Casinos.com.

Did you manage to spot them both?

It takes viewers an average of 35 seconds to solve the brainteaser, and see the jokers.

So spotting both in 10 seconds means you’ve got 20/20 vision and then some.

One in ten people attempting the brainteaser give up altogether.

It might seem a bit daunting at first, but the trick is to carefully examine each section of the image.

You might wish to start from the top left corner of the image and work your way down, or maybe do the complete opposite – whatever gives you more confidence!

Another useful tactic is picking an element of the picture – in this case a card – and analyse what’s around it.

Still struggling to figure this one out? Have a look at the solution image at the bottom to check if you were close enough.

The two jokers blend very neatly into their backgrounds, making them very hard to spot.

The first one is tucked into the card dealer’s shirt on the front table.

Only the end of the card pokes out, making it tough to see.

The second one is up against the screen of the second slot machine on the right of the image.

Taking ten seconds to differentiate between the jokers and their backgrounds is no small task.

Did you know that solving optical illusions is a great way of training your brain and improving creative thinking?

Brainteasers are purposefully designed to trick our vision and can be used as simple determiners of intelligence.

So you might want to try The Sun’s wide range of optical illusions created to stimulate the deepest parts of your brain.

One tricky brainteaser features a gnarled tree but only those with high IQ can spot a sleepy cat hiding on it.

If that’s still not hard enough for you, then have a go at spotting the hidden broom amongst the clothes in less than five seconds.

Or you can have a go at figuring out the hidden message in this band’s cover art that has confused fans for years.

Lastly, puzzle fanatics have been left scratching their heads trying to find the lost feather in just 12 seconds.

Or scroll down for more confusing images and their solutions.

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Her hair is red, voluminous and wild. She walks with a swagger. Her voice is raspy, and not in a sexy kind of Lauren Bacall way, but more like Peter Falk.

Long before finding her groove with unconventional roles in “Orange Is the New Black,” “Russian Doll” and now, “Poker Face,” there weren’t many options for a free spirit like Natasha Lyonne, especially when she aged from a pliable child actor into a self-aware adult.

“It’s weird that all of a sudden, one day, everybody looks at you differently and you’re aware of it,” says Lyonne, 46. “I remember the ‘Lolita’ audition, and it was like, ‘Will you slowly eat this apple?’ And I was like, ‘I know what you’re asking of me. I can eat it for you comedically.’ But no, I will not simulate sex with an apple on camera. I mean, I’d studied the history of film. These were not revelations.”

The real surprise? Lyonne forged a career by finding and later creating projects that capitalized on her undeniably intrepid personality, wrapping the roles around her eccentricities rather than conforming to what was expected of a female performer in Hollywood. Lyonne’s latest act of defiance is Season 2 of the Peacock series “Poker Face,” a murder-of-the-week mystery created by Rian Johnson (“Knives Out,” “Glass Onion”) that she stars in and executive produces. This season, in addition to writing, she’s also directing two episodes.

Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale in Season 2 of Peacock’s “Poker Face.”

(Sarah Shatz / Peacock)

The series, which returns Thursday with three episodes followed by one each ensuing week, continues to follow Charlie Cale (Lyonne), a scrappy Vegas casino employee who is blessed and cursed with the ability to accurately discern when someone is lying. Following the murder of her best friend, she’s forced to outrun the mob in her 1969 Plymouth Barracuda, traversing the byways of America while solving murders along the way.

The hourlong series takes its cues from personality-driven, ‘70s-era detective dramas including “The Rockford Files” and “McCloud.” But it’s “Columbo,” starring the wonderfully rumpled Falk, that’s most heavily influenced “Poker Face.”

Lyonne recalls the 1971 pilot episode of the vintage TV series, which was directed by a 24-year-old newcomer named Steven Spielberg. “I ripped from it directorially,” Lyonne says. “I like the one long, slow [Robert] Altman-like zoom shot through the office window down to the car. And I hear Spielberg went on to do great things. It’s like, ‘You like that long shot? You’re never gonna believe what this guy does next! Holy smokes. Are you in for a ride!’”

But Charlie Cale is not Columbo. She carries a vape pen instead of a cigar and prefers cut-off shorts to a trench coat. She does, however, share the uncanny knack for arriving just as a murder’s taking place, be it on an alligator farm in Florida or a sprawling East Coast mansion. She’s confronted with a new cast of characters at every stop, and the roster of talent who inhabit those roles is impressive. The lineup includes Cynthia Erivo, Giancarlo Esposito, Katie Holmes, Justin Theroux, Alia Shawkat, John Mulaney, Kumail Nanjiani, Lili Taylor, Margo Martindale, Melanie Lynskey and Rhea Perlman.

Katie Holmes, left, guest stars this season. Also guest starring is Giancarlo Esposito. (Sarah Shatz / Peacock)

“Charlie is a great lover of people,” Lyonne says. “[My former character] Nadia in ‘Russian Doll,’ which I co-created with Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland, it’s almost like she was on her own case. But Charlie’s already been on the journey where we lose interest in ourselves and gain interest in our fellows. The mob is after her. She can’t have a phone. She can’t have roots. She can’t really fall in love. It’s lonely.”

Lyonne’s own journey into the world of acting turned her into a seasoned veteran before she was even old enough to vote. The New York native worked in commercials before kindergarten, and as a grade-school student landed the TV role of Opal in “Pee-wee’s Playhouse.” She also appeared in films such as “Heartburn,” “A Man Called Sarge” and “Dennis the Menace.” By her late teens, she landed her breakthrough role as the daughter of a broke single dad (played by Alan Arkin) in the 1998 indie comedy “Slums of Beverly Hills.”

“I’ve been doing this since I was 4 years old, dear reader,” jokes Lyonne, whose acting career now spans four decades. “As a child character actor, there is this kind of inner knowingness. We were completely alert, little businesspeople. If you start at 4, by 6, you kind of get the idea [of what’s going on], like ‘Don’t mumble. The Minute Maid people don’t like that in their commercial.’ By 8, you know where the bodies are buried. You know how to read a room, to perform on command. I can still smell the Pine-Sol from that Pine-Sol commercial in 1986.”

Even as a child, Lyonne didn’t quite fit the mold of precocious yet accessible girl next door: “I was trying to carve out this weird lane while discovering the heartbreak of not getting the role in ‘Curly Sue.’ I was like, I’m perfect for this thing. What’s wrong? Oh, I see. You’ve got to be Shirley Temple or you can’t really hang out.”

Lyonne pivoted to another passion: film and television history. She is a walking encyclopedia of great performances and buried, esoteric moments in both media. For a short time, she studied film and philosophy at NYU. “I was already thinking that I’ve got to transition this into filmmaking from the inside out, rather than just being an actor for hire. It took 20 years for that to materialize into a reality,” she says.

“I was already thinking that I’ve got to transition this into filmmaking from the inside out, rather than just being an actor for hire. It took 20 years for that to materialize into a reality,” Natasha Lyonne says. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

She disappeared from the public eye for over a decade as she battled drug addiction. Her comeback included a recurring role as Nicky Nichols in “Orange Is the New Black,” Netflix’s breakout streaming hit. Lyonne has said she had plenty to draw on for the character, who was a recovering drug addict. Nicky became a fan favorite.

By 2019, Lyonne co-created her own Netflix series, the existential dark comedy “Russian Doll,” where she played Nadia, a New York City-based video game developer who gets caught in a time loop at her 36th birthday party. She’s on a quest to solve the mystery of why she dies, repeatedly.

“There were techniques [I had to learn], like actual filmmaking, actual writing, actual producing,” Lyonne says. “The parts weren’t there, and the parts are still not there. It’s like nobody’s writing them.”

But she credits collaborators like Johnson for creating parts for actors such as herself.

“Rian really is some kind of genius because he took this self-referential gig that I was doing [and turned it] into a kind of character piece. I’m self-made, I suppose,” she says. “This is the way the hair grows out of my head. I’ll commit to it. So he took that and made it into something.”

“Poker Face” is a colorful, entertaining ride through a retro murder-mystery genre, present-day pockets of quirky American culture and Lyonne’s own personal journey as seen through Charlie.

“The show is about losing this nihilistic, self-destructive streak and finding connection with another human,” Lyonne says. “You try to build a life and not kill yourself over and over again. It’s like a marathon man or a long-distance runner. But she’s been through that dark and stormy night of the soul, and come out on the other side with the sun at her back.”