Terry Rozier gets 2027 trial date in NBA gambling case

BROOKLYN (CN) — Former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and his co-defendants will go to trial in February 2027, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, hours after the defendants pleaded guilty to additional charges in the case accusing NBA players and high-stakes gamblers of fixing games in the U.S. and internationally.

U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall set the trial date for Feb. 8, 2027, as she considers Rozier’s motion to dismiss the charges against him.

Rozier has also asked Hall, a Barack Obama appointee, to modify his bail conditions, which bar him from communicating with anyone on the Charlotte Hornets — the team he was playing for in March 2023 when the feds say he tipped off his co-defendant and childhood friend Deniro Laster that he’d be exiting a game early against the New Orleans Pelicans due to an injury. Laster then sold that information to other bettors, according to prosecutors.

Cutting off interactions with anyone on the Hornets has effectively ended his NBA career, Rozier says, since he couldn’t even interact with Hornets players during a game. The Hornets haven’t taken a position on the motion; the NBA has objected. The Hornets traded Rozier to the Heat in January 2024.

“The NBA literally has flagrantly fouled the presumption of innocence. They should be ashamed of themselves,” Rozier’s attorney Jim Trusty said outside the courthouse Wednesday.

With Rozier standing by his side, Trusty of Ifrah Law added: “Terry still stands strong. … He’ll be strong when his day of exoneration comes.”

Prosecutors charged Rozier in May with two additional counts — bribery in sporting contests and honest services wire fraud conspiracy — tacking onto a pair of October 2025 indictments in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Rozier’s co-defendant Marves Fairley, a 40-year-old sports betting influencer, admitted last month he cashed in on insider information from players to place fraudulent bets on games in the U.S. and China.

“I agreed to pay a player to change their game performance to give me an advantage on bets I placed for myself and others,” Fairley told U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo, that player being Rozier.

In the second October 2025 indictment, prosecutors accuse players of helping to rig mafia-linked poker games using sophisticated card-reading technology. Damon Jones, 49, a former NBA player and coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers, pleaded guilty to charges in both cases.

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