‘We Follow The Money’: Kash Patel Says Alleged NBA Ties To Mafia Just ‘The Start’ Of FBI Investigation

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel said Thursday on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that the announcement of multiple National Basketball Association (NBA) figures’ alleged ties to the mafia and game-fixing are just “the start” of the agency’s probe.

During a press conference Thursday, the FBI announced the arrest and charges of over 30 people, including a current player and coach, in connection with criminal schemes allegedly involving sports betting and money laundering. While speaking to Patel, Fox’s Laura Ingraham asked the FBI director what viewers need to know about the announcement of the charges, stating it almost sounded like “a movie script.”

“It’s simple, we follow the money. And look, while the NBA is a piece of this, they are just a piece of that. And what the American people should know is this FBI has no business in being the morality police,” Patel said. “We are the police and the enforcement of the laws. If you break the law, we’re coming for you, whether you play in the NBA, coach the NBA.”

“And these individuals got in bed with La [Cosa] Nostra and four of the five major crime families in New York City to create gambling empires, to rob people of their money, to extort people, to commit acts of wire fraud, to rig games and poker games and basketball games just so they can make a few extra bucks,” the FBI director added.

“And then they had the protection of the mafia in New York, around this country, so that they could continue the scheme to fleece innocent victims of tens of millions of dollars,” Patel continued. “That’s what the FBI and the American people need to understand. That we showcase today a nationwide takedown of over 30 individuals involved in this scheme, and we are doing it because they committed acts of illegality.”

According to the FBI’s press release, among the suspects arrested were Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat star guard Terry Rozier, and former NBA player and assistant coach Damon Jones. (RELATED: Stephen A. Smith Claims Trump Plotting Revenge On Sports Leagues That Crossed Him)

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The three NBA-connected suspects, along with bettors Eric Earnest, Marves Fairley, Shane Hennen, and Deniro Laster, were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy “for their alleged roles in a scheme to use inside information” from NBA players and coaches “to profit from illegal betting activity.”

Patel went on to state that the investigation is “very much ongoing” as the “massive takedown” spanned multiple jurisdictions.

“It has nothing to do with legal gambling and it has everything to do with those in positions of power in places like the NBA getting in bed with La [Cosa] Nostra and committing acts of extortion, fraud, money laundering, and wire fraud, and so many other crimes,” Patel said. “This investigation, by the way, today, this massive takedown that the FBI led in multiple jurisdictions coordinating arrests across dozens of cities, is just the start.”

“This investigation is very much ongoing. And as I said at the news conference in New York today, if you didn’t do anything wrong or illegal, there’s nothing to worry about,” Patel added. “And so, when people start chirping at us that we’re coming after them for sports betting and the like, they’re sounding the start like [Democrat Illinois] Governor [JB] Pritzker, who’s just looking for a pot shot on TV.”

According to the FBI, the over 30 suspects allegedly used technology and “deceit to scam innocent victims out of millions of dollars,” which were then allegedly funneled to three families in the Italian-American Mafia known as the La Cosa Nostra.

The NBA notably had first been alerted in January to alleged suspicious betting activity from March 2023 involving Rozier, according to Bloomberg.

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