Earlier right now, former NBA participant and coach Damon Jones appeared in Brooklyn federal court docket and pleaded not responsible to a pair of gambling-related conspiracy costs. Jones was one among greater than 30 defendants indicted in October as a part of a sweeping FBI operation focusing on unlawful betting and rigged poker video games allegedly backed by organized crime. Prosecutors say Jones performed a key function in each schemes — feeding inside NBA damage data to gamblers and serving to lure rich victims into high-stakes poker video games secretly fastened with hidden know-how.
The 2 overlapping investigations, dubbed “Operation Nothing However Wager” and “Operation Royal Flush,” have been described as one of many largest sports-related playing scandals in many years. Jones and different former athletes allegedly acted as “Face Playing cards,” attracting big-money gamers with the promise of movie star video games in Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan, and the Hamptons — just for these video games to be rigged in favor of the organizers.
Jones, who earned greater than $20 million throughout his basketball profession, was launched on a $200,000 bond secured by his mother and father’ Houston dwelling. You is perhaps questioning why somebody who earned $20 million within the NBA wanted his mother and father’ dwelling as collateral, and/or why stated particular person was allegedly concerned in an unlawful playing ring. Properly, sadly, Damon Jones has skilled some extreme monetary issues courting again over a decade. He is filed for chapter twice. In his 2013 submitting, he needed to listing his canine as one among his belongings.
(Photograph by Andres Kudacki/Getty Pictures)
Years Of Monetary Hassle
When Damon Jones first filed for chapter in 2013, his scenario was already dire. You understand how, when somebody recordsdata for chapter, they need to submit an in depth listing of all their belongings and money owed to the court docket? These belongings normally embrace issues like automobiles, jewellery, financial savings accounts, or funding holdings. When Damon filed, his monetary image was so bleak that one of many few belongings he listed was his canine — a Yorkshire Terrier. The worth he attributed to that asset? One greenback.
This chapter submitting was finally dismissed. It is unclear why, nevertheless it’s probably as a result of he both didn’t adjust to the court docket’s procedural necessities or by no means accomplished the method, not as a result of his money owed disappeared. Dismissal means the case was basically thrown out — collectors might nonetheless pursue him, and he did not get the debt aid a discharge would have supplied.
And pursue them they did! At the least that is the way it seems as a result of, simply two years later, Damon filed for chapter AGAIN. This time, he reported between $500,000 and $1 million in liabilities in opposition to simply $100,000 to $500,000 in belongings. He owed roughly $640,000 to collectors, together with $47,000 to the Bellagio Lodge and On line casino for what court docket data described as a “breach of contract/confession of judgment.” In plain English, he owed the Bellagio for unpaid playing or credit score markers.
The sample did not cease there. In 2019, a person named Scott Kerr sued Jones for failing to repay a $10,000 mortgage that carried a $4,000 payment. Jones allegedly pledged his 2016 NBA championship ring as collateral — after which by no means turned it over. Between 2023 and 2024, three extra collectors filed lawsuits in opposition to him, every claiming Jones didn’t repay private loans totaling tens of 1000’s of {dollars}. One Houston man stated Jones agreed in writing to pay him $20,000 after borrowing simply $4,500, and even referenced “Bron” in textual content messages, apparently to recommend he nonetheless had connections to LeBron James and different NBA insiders.
By 2023, issues had worsened additional. Jones was residing in a luxurious condo advanced in Houston however had fallen 1000’s of {dollars} behind on hire. His property managers filed eviction notices twice that 12 months, as soon as claiming he owed $5,600 and once more looking for greater than $11,000. Each instances, Jones failed to seem in court docket, and judges issued default judgments in opposition to him.
Public data additionally revealed that Jones used his 2016 championship ring as collateral for one more private mortgage, and that the ring could have been seized or misplaced within the course of. Through the years, he gave the impression to be residing off a mixture of loans, small gigs, and connections to former NBA gamers — a pointy distinction to the multimillion-dollar contracts he as soon as signed as a revered shooter alongside LeBron James in Cleveland.
And now he is going through the trial of his life, utilizing his mother and father’ dwelling to safe his freedom. Unclear if his Terrier was provided as collateral.
