Ex-NBA player Malik Beasley pleads not guilty to sports betting charges

BROOKLYN (CN) — Former NBA player Malik Beasley pleaded not guilty Wednesday to an indictment unsealed earlier this week, in which he’s charged with altering his game performance in exchange for bribes from bettors who used the insider information to win wagers on the rigged games.

The 29-year-old was released on a $100,000 bond package cosigned by his parents, who appeared in court via telephone. His co-defendant, NBA player agent Paolo Zamorano, was arraigned as well and released on the same bond amount, cosigned by his wife and father.

Beasley’s parents’ remote presence made for a lighthearted courtroom moment when U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkl asked the defendant’s mother how often she speaks to her son. Dorinda Beasley said she calls her son daily, but he may not answer every day.

“If I call him six times a week, he’ll answer five times,” Dorinda Beasley said.

“That’s a pretty good ratio,” Merkl replied.

Outside the courthouse, Malik Beasley’s attorney Jason Goldman said his client looks forward to fighting the case and offered thoughts about the sports betting industry as a whole.

“There’s a bigger conversation here about the industry, about individuals and institutions that are profiting billions and billions of dollars and fueling addiction, and a larger, broader conversation that needs to happen at some point,” Goldman said.

Four other men are charged in the case: ex-NBA player Ed Davis, William Brown, Robert Gorodetsky and Ernesto Plascencia.

Prosecutors say Beasley, a nine-year veteran of the NBA, and his former teammate, 37-year-old Davis, agreed that Beasley would underperform — and, at times, overperform — relative to his betting statistics in 2024 games while Beasley played for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Davis and the other co-defendants are accused of using the information from Beasley — who received bribes in return — to place and win crooked bets in games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers.

The case in the Eastern District of New York was reassigned to U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall, who is overseeing the prosecution of former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier involving similar accusations.

In a separate case before U.S. District Judge Ramon E. Reyes Jr., prosecutors accuse several NBA players of helping to rig mafia-linked poker games using sophisticated card-reading, using their celebrity to draw interest in the games. Former player and Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups is also named in that indictment.

In April, former Cleveland Cavaliers player and assistant coach Damon Jones, 49, pleaded guilty to charges in both cases.

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