Just when you thought the drama around Terry Rozier couldn’t get any messier, prosecutors said, “Hold my briefcase.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York has now decided the original charges weren’t spicy enough. So they’re adding more, because why stop at one headline when you can have two?
According to the latest courtroom plot twist, prosecutors plan to file what’s called a superseding indictment. Translation: “We’re not done with you yet.” And the new claim? That Rozier allegedly solicited and accepted a bribe. Yes, we’ve officially entered the “this sounds like a Netflix docuseries” phase of the story.
The announcement dropped during a hearing in front of a federal judge. Timing? Impeccable. Rozier’s lawyer, Jim Trusty, had just asked the court to dismiss the case. Bold move. Unfortunately, prosecutors responded with the legal equivalent of “actually, we’ve got more.”
“We have developed evidence that Mr. Rozier solicited and accepted a bribe,” Kaitlin Ferrell, a prosecutor for the Eastern District, said Monday during a hearing.
Prosecutors will present the charges to a grand jury. The prosecutors allege that Rozier accepted a bribe and will argue that he committed sports bribery and honest services fraud. A prosecutor said that Rozier had deprived “the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets of Mr. Rozier’s honest services.” A lawyer for the Eastern District said they intend to file the charges by mid-May.
Rozier is currently facing two federal wire fraud charges from an October arrest and indictment. Federal prosecutors allege that he told a friend, Deniro Laster, that he would leave a March 2023 game early while he was still playing for the Hornets. Prosecutors say Laster then sold that information to sports gamblers, who used it to place wagers on his playing time.
Rozier’s troubles seem not to be over anytime soon.
The NBA had put him on leave after the charges were made public, though an arbitrator ruled he must still be paid his $26.4 million salary.
Rozier and five other men are facing charges as part of what federal prosecutors say is a sprawling case in which non-public information on NBA players was sold and traded to sports gamblers, who then wagered on it. Seven men were charged in the case, brought last October, but one, Damon Jones, an 11-year NBA veteran, has indicated he will plead guilty. A hearing is set for Tuesday in which he will change his plea in front of the federal judge overseeing the case.
At this point, the case feels less like a simple legal dispute and more like an ongoing series. New episodes drop unexpectedly, characters keep adding plot twists, and everyone is waiting to see how it ends.
