Chauncey Billups, Terry Rozier and Damon Jones were arrested Thursday morning as part of FBI probes into alleged illegal gambling with ties to the La Cosa Nostra crime families.
The allegations come despite both Billups and Rozier having made over $100 million each in career earnings, while Jones made around $20 million.
With that much money made, it is fair to wonder how the NBA figures allegedly got wrapped up in the scandal.
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"How could they possibly get into a situation where they would do this? Their lifetime income was somewhere in the vicinity of $150 million. For most people, you couldn't spend $150 million in your lifetime," Notre Dame finance professor Richard Sheehan said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
Sure enough, Billups is accused of making $50,000 for playing in at least one poker game, while Rozier allegedly counted up "tens of thousands" of dollars after his friend’s bets following Rozier’s early exit from a game.
Sheehan said that the net worths of Billups and Rozier he had seen, which were much lower than their career earnings, did not add up.
"The numbers that I had seen in terms of their net worth, though, were in the vicinity of $35 and $40 million. Still, not bad at all, but I look at the $150 million in income, subtract off taxes, subtract off expenses, whatever, and just as a finance professor, I look at that and say, their wealth should be double $35 or $40 million. Easy, should be double that. And it's not," Sheehan said.
Sheehan blamed the possibility of "posses" that hang on to athletes, resulting in the athletes giving them money.
"Many people in athletes’ orbs would basically view them as walking ATMs," Sheehan said.
He also speculated about the possibility of bad financial decisions from advisors and attorneys for the large discrepancy between earnings and net worth.
"The other possibility is simply that, that they've had dealings with unsavory characters like the mafia, that they may not have known about at the time, and that's led them into compromising positions where they feel that they need to do something," Sheehan said, effectively reiterating the allegations of the poker scheme.
There is one final possibility, though: Plain stupidity and greed.
"'I've got $40 million in the bank. But, you know, if I had $41 million, I'd feel a little better.’ If you can do that honestly, then that's one story. If you need to cut corners, then it's just really stupid, because your future income, in terms of sports, your future income goes to zero, and you may end up spending a fair amount of time in a jail cell," Sheehan said.
Billups, Rozier and Jones, the latter of whom is a defendant in both cases, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The NBA announced that Billups and Rozier were placed on immediate leave from their teams, "and we will continue to cooperate with the relevant authorities."
"The integrity of our game remains our top priority," the NBA said.
Attorneys for both Billups and Rozier have denied any wrongdoing.
"Anyone who knows Chauncey Billups knows he is a man of integrity; men of integrity do not cheat and defraud others," a statement from attorney Chris Heywood read.
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