Despite his lawyer’s assertion that the NBA “cleared him two years ago,” Terry Rozier was never technically cleared of wrongdoing after the league looked into suspicious betting activity involving the guard in 2023, a source in the league office tells investigative reporter and podcaster Pablo Torre (Twitter video link).
“Terry’s investigation was never closed, so he was not cleared of anything,” that source said. “Us not being able to find something is not the same as cleared. It is true we did not find a violation of our rules, but we did not close our investigation.”
As Torre outlines, the NBA hired the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to investigate Rozier following a flurry of activity on his “under” prop bets prior to a March 23, 2023 game when he was a member of the Hornets.
According to Torre, Rozier was interviewed via Zoom and turned over his phone to investigators, who looked for specific search terms. After not finding a “smoking gun,” those investigators ultimately deferred to the feds, while the guard was permitted to continue playing, first for the Hornets and later for the Heat.
Rozier is now facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering after being accused of telling his friend – and co-defendant – De’Niro Laster that he would remove himself early from that March 2023 game.
According to a federal indictment, Laster was paid $100K for sharing that information with another defendant, Marves Fairley. The tip was then allegedly shared with others, resulting in the group wagering $259K on those “under” prop bets, which hit after Rozier left the game in the first quarter with a foot injury. Prosecutors allege that winnings were later delivered to and counted at Rozier’s home.
Veteran NBA sharpshooter Malik Beasley has also been investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and the NBA for possible illegal betting activity, and Torre hears from sources that both of those investigations are still ongoing.
According to Torre, the NBA previously looked at Beasley for bets he made on other sports. While he was cleared in that case, the league hasn’t yet closed its latest probe, despite so far finding “no hard evidence of Beasley altering his performance or communicating with gamblers to tip his performances,” per a league office source.
Beasley remains unsigned, with news of the investigation having broken just before he officially became a free agent this summer.