Federal prosecutors have obtained an indictment charging former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier with additional counts in connection with a sports gambling investigation, alleging the professional athlete accepted a substantial bribe to prematurely exit a game in March 2023.

Rozier, 32, was charged Thursday in a superseding indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn with bribery in sporting contests and honest services wire fraud conspiracy. A superseding indictment is a legal mechanism utilised by the government to alter or supplement charges within an existing criminal case.

The basketball player has maintained his innocence regarding the alleged gambling scheme. He has actively sought the dismissal of the prosecution since December, when he entered a plea of not guilty to initial charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.

Defence counsellors contend that the prosecution's foundational theory—which posits that Rozier obstructed sportsbooks from making fully informed decisions regarding wager acceptances—violates a recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent that restricted the scope of the federal wire fraud statute.

“The new indictment just confirms that our motion to dismiss was righteous — new charges, new theories, but all just an effort to make something stick,” Rozier's defence attorney, Jim Trusty, stated in an email communication to The Associated Press.

The Investigative Scope and Co-Defendants

Federal authorities arrested Rozier in October alongside former NBA player Damon Jones, who entered a guilty plea last month for his involvement in operations designed to defraud prominent sportsbooks, including DraftKings and FanDuel.

The ongoing criminal investigation also implicates prominent sports bettor and digital influencer Marves Fairley. Fairley entered a guilty plea Thursday to federal counts of conspiracy and bribery related to illicit wagering operations targeting basketball fixtures in both the United States and China.

Rozier remains at liberty after posting a $3 million bond, though the active federal litigation has precluded his participation in the current basketball season.

Allegations of Team and League Deception

The updated judicial filing expands the scope of the alleged fraud, asserting that Rozier compromised the integrity of not only the commercial sportsbooks but also the National Basketball Association and his employer at the time of the incident, the Charlotte Hornets.

According to federal prosecutors, Rozier conspired with bettors to feign the aggravation of a persistent lower leg injury, allowing him to exit a game early. The planned departure was designed to validate over $250,000 in proposition wagers predicated on his total points, assists, and peripheral statistics falling below the betting lines established by oddsmakers.

The illicit wagering strategy was only partially successful. The indictment notes that Rozier recorded four rebounds prior to his departure, exceeding the proposition line set by sportsbooks.

Consequentially, Rozier and his associates reportedly renegotiated the terms of the illicit compensation package, reducing his personal payout from an anticipated $100,000 to approximately $70,000.

Insider Information and Judicial Allocutions

Grand jury members returned the supplemental indictment within hours of the formal guilty plea entered by Fairley, who commands a digital presence under the pseudonym “Vezino Locks” on the social platform Instagram.

As a condition of his judicial allocution, Fairley conceded to government assertions that he leveraged proprietary insider intelligence to secure an unfair advantage when wagering on NBA, NCAA, and Chinese Professional Basketball League contests. This conduct included transferring $100,000 to a lifelong associate of Rozier in exchange for advance confirmation that the guard would remove himself from the game.

“By publicly acknowledging his guilt and conduct today, Marves is taking the first step toward atoning for his wrongful conduct and to starting his ‘second half’ on the right foot,” defence attorney Eric Siegle said, adding that his client “deeply regrets and is ashamed of his conduct.”

With inputs from AP