Former NBA player and coach Damon Jones pleaded not guilty on two charges stemming from his alleged involvement in an illegal gambling scandal, per CBS News. Jones was then released on a $200,000 bond, and he is prohibited from gambling or making contact with organized crime as part of the bond terms.
Jones is facing charges in two cases. One of them involves an allegation that he providing insider information to a co-conspirator, who then used that data to bet on NBA games. The second case involves Jones allegedly luring other athletes into rigged poker games organized by the mafia with Jones accused of taking a cut of the money as compensation for his role.
In the first case, Jones allegedly sent a text to a co-conspirator on Feb. 9, 2023 in which he says,