NEW YORK (AP) — Former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones is set to plead guilty Tuesday to charges he cashed in on rigged poker games and gave sports bettors nonpublic injury information about stars, including his one-time teammate LeBron James.
Barring a last-minute change, Jones will become the first person to plead guilty in a gambling sweep that led to the arrests of more than 30 people, including reputed mobsters and other basketball figures.
None of the other defendants have shown a willingness to plead guilty. On Monday, prosecutors said they were seeking additional charges against a co-defendant in the betting case, former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier.
Jones, 49, is scheduled to appear at back-to-back plea change hearings in Brooklyn federal court before Magistriate Judge Joseph Marutollo. Court records show he is expected to plead guilty to at least one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Jones previously pleaded not guilty in both cases to charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Both charges carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison. He remains free on bail.
Jones’ lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, declined to comment.
Jones was arrested last October along with Rozier, Portland Trail Blazers head coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, and others, including a sports bettor accused of cashing in on injury information.
Jones was one of three people charged in both the poker and sports betting schemes.
Jones, originally from Galveston, Texas, earned more than $20 million playing for 10 teams in 11 seasons from 1999 to 2009. He and James played together in Cleveland from 2005 to 2008, and Jones served as an unofficial assistant coach for James’ Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-2023 season.
Prosecutors say Jones sold or attempted to sell nonpublic information to bettors that James and former Lakers forward Anthony Davis were injured and either wouldn’t be playing or would play less time in certain games.
In the poker scheme, prosecutors say Jones was among former NBA players used to lure unwitting players into poker games that were rigged using altered shuffling machines, hidden cameras, special sunglasses and even X-ray equipment built into the table.
According to the indictment, Jones was paid $2,500 for a game in the Hamptons where he was instructed to cheat by paying close attention to others involved in the scheme. When in doubt, Jones was told to fold his hand, prosecutors said.
In response, according to prosecutors, Jones texted: “Y’all know I know what I’m doing!!”
FILE - Former NBA basketball player and assistant coach Damon Jones arrives at Brooklyn federal court, Monday, Nov. 24, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
WIENER NEUSTADT, Austria (AP) — The trial against a man accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotting to attack one of superstar singer Taylor Swift’s concerts in Vienna nearly two years ago has begun in Austria.
The plot was thwarted, but Austrian authorities still canceled Swift's three performances in August 2024. The singer's fans, known as Swifties, who had flown to Austria from across the globe to attend a performance of her record-setting Eras Tour were devastated, but rallied to turn Vienna into a citywide trading post for friendship bracelets and singalongs.
The defendant, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen known only as Beran A. in line with Austrian privacy rules, faces charges including terrorist offenses and membership in a terrorist organization. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
He is facing trial alongside Arda K., whose full name also has not been made public. They along, with a third man, planned to carry out simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates during Ramadan in 2024 in the name of the Islamic State group. Beran A. and Arda K. never carried out their attacks.
Beran A.'s defense attorney, Anna Mair, on Monday told The Associated Press that her client plans to plead guilty to most of the charges but she did not specify which ones. Only Beran A. is charged in connection with the Taylor Swift plot.
He allegedly planned to target onlookers gathered outside Ernst Happel Stadium — up to 30,000 each night, with another 65,000 inside the venue — with knives or homemade explosives. The suspect hoped to “kill as many people as possible,” authorities said in 2024. The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.
Beran A. also allegedly networked with other members of the Islamic State group ahead of the planned attack. Prosecutors say they discussed purchasing weapons and making bombs, and that the defendant also sought to illegally buy weapons in the days ahead of the performance. In addition, he swore allegiance to the militant group.
Authorities searched his apartment on Aug. 7, 2024 and found bomb-making materials. The concerts were scheduled to begin the next day.
“Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” Swift wrote in a statement posted to Instagram two weeks later. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.”
The trial is being held in Wiener Neustadt, about an hour south of Vienna. The proceedings are set to continue May 12.
Prosecutors have also filed terrorism-related charges against Arda K. in the trial in connection with the plan for simultaneous attacks in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
The third man in that plot, Hasan E., allegedly stabbed a security guard with a knife at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on March 11, 2024. He was arrested and remains in pretrial detention in Saudi Arabia, Austrian prosecutors said.
Beran A. and Arda K. did not carry out their plans in Turkey and the UAE. Beran A. returned to Vienna and then allegedly began plotting to attack a Swift concert there.
The Vienna plot drew comparisons to a 2017 attack by a suicide bomber at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. The bomb detonated at the end of Grande’s concert as thousands of young fans were leaving, becoming the deadliest extremist attack in the United Kingdom in recent years.
Dazio reported from Berlin.
FILE - Fans of Taylor Swift also known as Swifties trade bracelets in the city centre in Vienna, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)
FILE - Fans of Taylor Swift also known as Swifties sing and dance in Vienna, Aug.9, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)
FILE - A person wears a purple head as fans of Taylor Swift also known as Swifties gather in the city centre in Vienna, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)
FILE - A police officer is decorated with Taylor Swift bracelets while guarding the city center in Vienna on Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)
FILE - Austrian police officers watch a gathering of Taylor Swift fans in the city centre in Vienna on Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Heinz-Peter Bader, File)
