Today's Top Stories from NBC News |
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In today's newsletter: An NBA head coach, a current player and a former pro are arrested in investigations into an alleged gambling ring and mafia-backed poker games. The president calls off plans to send the National Guard to San Francisco. And, a Trump foe prepares for arraignment. Here's what to know today. |
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Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and former NBA player Damon Jones were charged as part of two sweeping investigations: one into illegal sports gambling and the other into poker rigging schemes allegedly backed by the Mafia. In a statement, the NBA said Billups and Rozier would be placed on "immediate leave." The federal takedown led to the arrests of more than 30 people across 11 states on charges including wire fraud, money laundering, extortion, robbery and illegal gambling, FBI Director Kash Patel said. The web of alleged criminal activity was laid out in two federal indictments, where officials said key roles were played in one case by members of the notorious Bonanno, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese crime "families." In the first case, dubbed "Operation Nothing But Bet," prosecutors accused six defendants of participating in an insider sports betting scheme that "exploited confidential information" about basketball players and teams, U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. of the Eastern District of New York said. Rozier was charged in that indictment. In the second case, dubbed "Operation Royal Flush," prosecutors accused 31 defendants of a plot to rig underground poker games. The suspects allegedly used high-tech cheating gadgets to steal millions of dollars from games backed by four of the "Five Families" that have long ruled organized crime in the New York area. Billups was a "Face Card," prosecutors said, a high-profile person who could help attract big-fish gamblers to ritzy card games in Manhattan, Las Vegas, Miami and the Hamptons. The former NBA All Star, aided by equipment like a manipulated shuffling machine and an X-ray table, allegedly played on the "Cheating Team." It ultimately netted more than $7 million over six years, prosecutors said. The indictments threaten to create a reputational headache for both the NBA, one of the marquee professional sports leagues in the country, and the booming but increasingly scrutinized sports gambling industry. Read the full story. |
More on the gambling scandal: |
- Reactions to the extraordinary news spread quickly, ranging from surprise to anger at the league itself, according to five people who work inside or closely with the NBA.
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- Card-reading contact lenses, X-ray poker tables, poker chips that read cards, hacked shuffling machines. The technology alleged to have been used to execute a poker operation sounds like it's straight out of Hollywood.
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New York Attorney General Letitia James, who previously sued President Donald Trump for making misleading statements to banks, is scheduled to be arraigned today in federal court on bank fraud charges. The Democratic official was indicted by a grand jury in Virginia this month, weeks after Trump posted a message on Truth Social pressing U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against James and two other political adversaries. James is charged with one count of bank fraud and one count of making false statements to a financial institution. The indictment alleges James falsely claimed that a home in Norfolk, Virginia, was her second residence, allowing her to obtain favorable loan terms, and that she rented the property to a family of three. After she was charged, James called the allegations "baseless" and said Trump's "own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost." A separate mortgage fraud investigation of Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, another Trump foe, has stalled, according to four people familiar with the investigation. Federal prosecutors have not yet produced enough evidence in the investigation to bring charges against the senator. Read the full story. |
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Trump said he called off plans to deploy federal troops to San Francisco after speaking to the mayor and following backlash from the tech industry. So far Trump has deployed the National Guard to Portland, Oregon; Chicago; and Washington, D.C. this year. "The Federal Government was preparing to 'surge' San Francisco, California, on Saturday, but friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge in that the Mayor, Daniel Lurie, was making substantial progress," Trump said on Truth Social. He added the "friends" included the CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, and the CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff. The Trump administration and California's government are already engaged in a legal battle over Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles this year to quell protests against immigration enforcement raids in the city and surrounding areas. Read the full story. |
- Trump said his administration will inform Congress about targeting drug runners on land. In remarks, the president said Mexico was "run by the cartels" and called Colombia a "drug den." Meanwhile, two B-1 Bombers flew from the U.S. to about 50 miles from the coast of Venezuela, according to a defense official and flight tracker data for the aircraft.
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Trump said he was terminating trade talks with Canada, effective immediately. Trump accused Canada of trying to interfere with an upcoming Supreme Court case about the legality of his "reciprocal" tariffs. Trump made the announcement after the Canadian province of Ontario began running a television advertisement in the U.S. featuring a speech from former President Ronald Reagan. Ontario ran the ad during a game in the American League Championship Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Seattle Mariners. Read the full story. |
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- Russia reacted with outrage after the U.S. imposed substantial sanctions on its two largest oil companies.
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- The death of American chess grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky may have been the result of a drug overdose, and it is being investigated as a possible suicide.
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- Researchers are using stark, new language to describe the status of the two coral species in Florida: functionally extinct.
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Four critically acclaimed movies about Palestinian people are in contention for the International Feature Oscar, but North American audiences might have a hard time finding them. That's because so far the movies have only managed to attract small boutique distributors, and one film, "The Voice of Hind Rajab," is still looking for a studio deal. I spoke to the filmmakers about the challenges of shooting their movies during the war, and of bringing their work to U.S. audiences. —Rebecca Keegan, senior Hollywood reporter |
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Thanks for reading the Morning Rundown. Today's newsletter was curated for you by Christian Orozco. If you have any comments — likes, dislikes — send us an email at: MorningRundown@nbcuni.com If you're a fan, please forward it to your family and friends. They can sign up here. |
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