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The first prison sentence has been handed down related to the extensive NBA betting scandal that rocked the sport this fall.
Timothy McCormack was sentenced Wednesday to two years in prison by a federal judge in New York, according to ESPN.
“I have struggled with a gambling addiction for more than half of my life,” McCormack said at his sentencing.
McCormack was accused of defrauding sports betting platforms by using non-public information to place highly profitable bets linked to the performances of NBA players who were allegedly involved in the scheme.
“He has an addiction,” said federal judge DeArcy Hall. “I don’t think the behavior Mr McCormack engaged in defines him.”
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Assistant Director in Charge of the NY Field Office of the FBI Christopher Raia speaks as FBI Director Kash Patel listens during a news conference on October 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
McCormack participated in the scheme that allegedly involved former NBA players Terry Rozier, Chauncey Billups and Damon Jones.
Documents released by the FBI allege that the conspirators used a card-shuffle machine that used hidden technology to read the cards in the deck and predict which player at the table had the best hand, relaying that information via interstate wires to an off-site operator.
According to the documents, this operator allegedly communicated this information back to a master conspirator at the poker table, who used signals to relay the information to other conspirators at the table.
The FBI documents also allege that the cheating players used other technology, including electronic chip trays that could secretly read cards placed on the table, card analyzers that could also detect which cards were on the table, and invisible markings placed on the cards that could only be seen with the help of specially designed contact lenses or glasses.
FINANCE PROFESSOR QUESTIONS HOW NBA GUYS ARRIVED IN ILLEGAL GAMBLING DESPITE MILLIONS IN WEALTH
Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were arrested for their alleged involvement in illegal gambling. (Jaime Valdez/Imagn Images, Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Greg Nelson/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr., called it “one of the most brazen sports corruption schemes since online sports betting was widely legalized in the United States,” and detailed the type of technology used at a news conference in October.
“They used off-the-shelf shuffling machines that had been secretly modified to read the cards in the deck, predict which player at the table had the best poker hand, and relay that information to an off-site operator,” Nocella said.
“Defendants used other cheating technologies such as poker chip tray analyzers — which is a poker chip tray that secretly reads cards using a hidden camera — special contact lenses or glasses that could read premarked cards, and an X-ray table that could read face-down cards on the table.”
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FBI Director Kash Patel speaks at a news conference announcing the arrests of Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier in connection with a federal investigation into sports betting and illegal gambling, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
Billups and Jones were allegedly used as celebrity figures to draw competitors into the allegedly rigged poker games.
The DOJ said that in April 2019, Billups was one of five defendants who “organized and participated in rigged poker games” in Las Vegas “using a rigged mixing machine” in which victims lost at least $50,000. One of the defendants texted another co-conspirator that Billups should purposefully lose a hand to avoid suspicion of cheating.
