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Speaker 1: Stahammer Nigel Show. My name is Nigel. Jason Hammer right

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Speaker 1: over there. I think the biggest story in media this week.

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Speaker 1: I'm not just talking about sports media. Hammer, I think

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Speaker 1: you would agree the biggest story in mainstream media is

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Speaker 1: how the NBA has been rocked by this gambling scandal.

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Speaker 1: Coaches and players arrested. Here to cover it all, to

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Speaker 1: make sense of it for us Bright Bart News sports

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Speaker 1: editor Dylan Gwyn Dylan, thanks for coming on today. Man,

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Speaker 1: Where do we begin with this? And how long do

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Speaker 1: we know about this?

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Speaker 2: Well, those are two very interesting questions, and the NBA

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Speaker 2: is going to have to answer one of those questions

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Speaker 2: very soon here because these these investigations, first of all,

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Speaker 2: to catch everybody up. Thirty one arrests made this week

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Speaker 2: in a sting or a probe from the FBI, a

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Speaker 2: gambling probe that has ties to organized crime, by the way,

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Speaker 2: ties to some of the biggest names in the mafia,

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Speaker 2: the Genavies family, the Lukes family, the Bonanos of some

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Speaker 2: of the biggest crime families in America. So this is

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Speaker 2: a huge operation by the FBI here and a lot

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Speaker 2: of it has ties to the NBA. But the investigation

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Speaker 2: was focused on the years between twenty twenty two and

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty four, so this has been going on for

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Speaker 2: a very long time. One of the NBA players involved,

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Speaker 2: and he was arrested on Thursday, was Terry Rogier or

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Speaker 2: the Miami Heat. He's a guard, not you know, a

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Speaker 2: named star of the league, but a player in the league.

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Speaker 2: He was arrested Thursday outside the team hotel in Orlando.

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Speaker 2: They were in town to play the Orlando Magic, and

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Speaker 2: he was busted. The NBA is going to have to

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Speaker 2: answer a couple of very uncomfortable questions here for them,

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Speaker 2: because the allegations surrounding him are about a game in

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Speaker 2: March of twenty twenty three where he left after nine minutes,

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Speaker 2: and according to the indictment, he had told friends beforehand

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Speaker 2: that he was going to suffer a injury in this

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Speaker 2: game early on, and that they should go ahead and

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Speaker 2: basically take the unders. For those of you out there

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Speaker 2: who don't know the prop betfield, you know, each player

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Speaker 2: has a stat what they're what they're expected to do

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Speaker 2: in that game, and he told his friends to go

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Speaker 2: in and bet big on the unders because he was

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Speaker 2: going to have this purported injury around the nine minute

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Speaker 2: mark of the game, which he did, and and one

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Speaker 2: hundred over two hundred thousand dollars came in in gambling

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Speaker 2: and wagering on Terry Rogier's unders in this game, and

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Speaker 2: the NBA found out about it, they pulled. He didn't

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Speaker 2: play for the rest of the season, but he has

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Speaker 2: played since then. And the NBA is gonna have to

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Speaker 2: answer some questions here, like why was Terry Rogier ever

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Speaker 2: allowed to play in the NBA ever again? Because the

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Speaker 2: sports books in Vegas flagged this very suspicious activity immediately, right.

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Speaker 3: They're not stupid. They talk to each other, right.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, oh yeah, No, there's all kinds of safeguards here.

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Speaker 2: The sports leagues and the sports books in Las Vegas

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Speaker 2: communicate all the time because to prevent this exact kind

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Speaker 2: of thing. And here's the thing, guys, this this doem worked.

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Speaker 2: It absolutely worked. The sports books caught it, they called

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Speaker 2: the NBA. Terry Rogier goes on this. You know, he

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Speaker 2: was taken out for a while. I don't think he

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Speaker 2: played the rest of that season, but he was. He

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Speaker 2: was brought back eventually, and the NBA is going to

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Speaker 2: have to answer some questions about why they elected to

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Speaker 2: allow him to continue to appear on an NBA basketball

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Speaker 2: court when he had been implicated in this gambling scheme

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Speaker 2: that they knew about. So this isn't this isn't the

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Speaker 2: kind of thing where where this was held from the

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Speaker 2: NBA or they were blindsided by this. They knew, they

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Speaker 2: knew that Terry Rogier was under suspicion. They the sports

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Speaker 2: books had told them this, and yet he was allowed

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Speaker 2: uh to continue to play. And and and I obviously

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Speaker 2: I think the conclusion you arrived to from that is

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Speaker 2: that the probably did not want to have to explain

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Speaker 2: to everybody why Terry Rogier was being banned from basketball.

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Speaker 2: Had they gone ahead and banned him, and they would

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Speaker 2: have had to divulge, you know, a lot more information

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Speaker 2: about this gambling ring that probably would have brought a

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Speaker 2: lot more eyeballs to the sport, and they didn't want

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Speaker 2: to do that. And now, of course, you know, all

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Speaker 2: they did was kick the can down the road, because

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Speaker 2: there's an awful lot of eyeballs looking at him right now.

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Speaker 3: So, Dylan, two things here, two questions. Why do you

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Speaker 3: think they were so hesitant to do this to Terry

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Speaker 3: Rogier when there was a player for the Toronto raptors.

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Speaker 3: I believe it was last season that got caught and

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Speaker 3: they brought the hammer down on him. And then also

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Speaker 3: you've got the Chauncey Billups situation, which I believe is

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Speaker 3: different than the on court activity. We think Chauncey may

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Speaker 3: have been in bed with the mafia in these crooked

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Speaker 3: poker games. Is this under one big investigation or are

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Speaker 3: these separate investigations.

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Speaker 2: They are separate, but related is the word that the

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Speaker 2: indictment uses. Okay, so they're They're not entirely linked, but

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Speaker 2: there is reasonable suspicion that some of the people holding

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Speaker 2: the strings or pulling the strings on the sports ringing

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Speaker 2: aspect of this thing were also some of the same

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Speaker 2: people pulling the strings on the illegal gambling aspect of

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Speaker 2: it as well. So separate but related is the official

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Speaker 2: term in the indictment. I'll answer your second question first.

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Speaker 2: The Chauncey Billups thing is different. He was the head

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Speaker 2: coach of the Portland Trail Blazers. He was arrested on Thursday.

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Speaker 2: I'm sure everybody Indiana remembers in with the Pistons with

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Speaker 2: the National Championship. There famous NBA player. He was a

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Speaker 2: part of an illegal poker card ring in which X

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Speaker 2: ray tables were used in computer AI AI controlled card

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Speaker 2: shuffling machines were used to rig things for the house.

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Speaker 2: And basically Chauncey Billups's job was to show up at

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Speaker 2: these games. And this is how you get high rollers

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Speaker 2: to come to your poker game. You have an NBA

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Speaker 2: guy there, you have an NFL there, you have a

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Speaker 2: celebrity of some types. You get these people with money

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Speaker 2: to show up to these games. But allegedly Chauncey Billups

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Speaker 2: or is in on this as well, at least that's

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Speaker 2: what the government is claiming. And you know, he wins

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Speaker 2: when they tell him to win, he loses when they

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Speaker 2: tell him to lose. But the entire game is rigged

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Speaker 2: to fleece these people who are coming to play the game.

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Speaker 2: And Chauncey Billups was arrested for being a party to that. Now,

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Speaker 2: he did this morning at a statement through his lawyer

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Speaker 2: deny everything. He's denying that he's a part of a

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Speaker 2: gambling ring. He said he wouldn't risk his reputation, his

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Speaker 2: well hard won reputation as an NBA champion and Hall

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Speaker 2: of Famer, as a you know, on something like a

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Speaker 2: card game. But presumably the FBI did not do this

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Speaker 2: on a whim, right, Presumably there's a lot of evidence

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Speaker 2: to the contrary, and of course this will all play

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Speaker 2: out through the legal system that John tay Porter says,

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Speaker 2: there's a very big difference here that I find intriguing.

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Speaker 2: In the John tay Porter situation that you mentioned, the

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Speaker 2: former Toronto Raptors player and what's going on with Terry Rogier.

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Speaker 2: John tay Porter got in gambling trouble and they told him, hey,

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Speaker 2: if you want to, you know you can't afford to

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Speaker 2: pay yourself out of your debts, you're gonna work for us,

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Speaker 2: and you're gonna work for us with fixing games. And

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Speaker 2: that's basically how John tay Porter got in trouble Terry Rogier.

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Speaker 2: The report, the indictment says that he wasn't in any

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Speaker 2: significant gambling debt, that he was just doing this for cat.

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Speaker 3: I mean, like this was just and he's been in

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Speaker 3: the league for a long time, Dylan, He's got like

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Speaker 3: almost a decadees worth of work and he's made quite

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Speaker 3: a bit of money.

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Speaker 2: He's made six times as much as an NBA player

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Speaker 2: as he's made as a game fixer. So I mean,

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Speaker 2: this was he had. This gets completely ridiculous. It's completely

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Speaker 2: it was it was just pure If it appears allegedly

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Speaker 2: purportedly to be a case of just pure, unadulterated greed,

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Speaker 2: I mean, I don't. I don't know how else to

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Speaker 2: say it, because he wasn't trying to get himself out

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Speaker 2: of trouble with the mob. He wasn't doing this because

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Speaker 2: mobsters said, you're gonna do it to pay off your debts,

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Speaker 2: like what appears to be the case and the John

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Speaker 2: tay Porter situation. So it's fascinating. And for that matter,

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Speaker 2: Chauncey Phillips has made a ton of money in the

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Speaker 2: league too. Guys that he's a head coach of the NBA.

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Speaker 2: You know, there's been no mention of any outstanding gambling

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Speaker 2: debts with him either. So the motivations of these people

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Speaker 2: I find to be almost as interesting as the as

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Speaker 2: the case itself. In one of the motivations or one

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Speaker 2: of the people involved in the case that we haven't

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Speaker 2: touched on yet, Damon Jones, a former NBA player, former

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Speaker 2: teammate of Lebron James, who is very close with Lebron James.

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Speaker 2: And here's what he did. In February of twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 2: Lebron was going to miss a game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

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Speaker 2: Damon Jones allegedly calls his his you know, the members

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Speaker 2: of his betting ring and tells them to bet heavy

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Speaker 2: on the Bucks that night because Lebron is not going

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Speaker 2: to play. The information had not been shared publicly yet,

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Speaker 2: so this is info that Damon Jones got from being

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Speaker 2: inside the Lakers organization. He was actually called an unofficial

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Speaker 2: assistant coach at the time.

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Speaker 3: So this is like insider trading kind of This really

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Speaker 3: is kind of like the stuff that Martha Stewart went

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Speaker 3: to the joint for.

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Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi should be going to jails for, right that

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Speaker 1: what one.

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Speaker 2: Hundred percent it's all insider information. The information was not

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Speaker 2: out there wasn't public. So he goes out there and

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Speaker 2: tells his friends to bet big on the Bucks. The

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Speaker 2: Lakers lose the game, his friends get rich and but

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Speaker 2: this is this is one of the problems you have

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Speaker 2: that is unique to the NBA and different to it

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Speaker 2: from a lot of these other sports. There are there's

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Speaker 2: a huge entourage factor with the NBA that you don't

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Speaker 2: really encounter in the NFL and you don't encounter in

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Speaker 2: Major League Baseball. And Damon Jones was part of Lebron's entourage. Now,

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Speaker 2: Lebron is not under investigation and he's not accused of

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Speaker 2: of any wrongdoing in this case whatsoever. But this is

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Speaker 2: one of the problems these stars have in the league.

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Speaker 2: When you bring people into the locker room, into the organization,

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Speaker 2: they become privy to access to information that they otherwise

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Speaker 2: would not have and some of them don't have the

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Speaker 2: best motivations as is, as is the case with Damon Jones,

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Speaker 2: and they end up getting involved in illegal gambling. And

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Speaker 2: now that's how Lebron James's name has been dragged into

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Speaker 2: this whole mess.

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Speaker 3: Dylan Gwenn is the Brett bart News sports editor. Dylan,

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Speaker 3: we could probably do a full show on all the

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Speaker 3: different angles of this, but uh, where can we get

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Speaker 3: the latest information and coverage?

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Speaker 2: Well, definitely head over to bred barton dot com. There's

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Speaker 2: a tab on the left side of the screen there,

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Speaker 2: click it down for sports Brian bart dot com Sports

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Speaker 2: and you can we we have several stories up on this.

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Speaker 2: Uh right now. We are going to be all over

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Speaker 2: it for as long as it is a story, and

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Speaker 2: I think that's gonna be for for quite a long time.

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Speaker 3: Hey, great star man, We appreciate you and we'll talk

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Speaker 3: again soon.

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Speaker 2: Looking forward to it, guys, thanks so much.

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Speaker 3: All Right, it is that time to throw one back

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Speaker 3: beer sample Friday next