Damon Jones, the former NBA player accused of providing inside information to sports bettors, was forced to list his Yorkshire terriers as assets when he first filed for bankruptcy in 2013.
The unnamed dog was valued at just $1, according to court documents.
A decade later, months before Jones was kicked out of his luxury apartment building in Houston, prosecutors allege he texted a co-conspirator urging them to bet on the Milwaukee Bucks against Los Angeles because the Lakers’ top player, believed to be LeBron James, was out with injury.
After maintaining relative anonymity as a former NBA player and coach, Jones found himself at the forefront of one of the biggest gambling scandals in modern sports when he was named by federal prosecutors last week on two indictments related to gambling and fixed Mafia-linked poker games.
NBC News reviewed more than 150 pages of Jones’ court documents, including financial forms that show the former athlete’s ongoing financial problems. In addition to the eviction proceedings, Jones listed his 2016 NBA championship ring as collateral for a personal loan and was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
“Operation Nothing But Bet” is one of two large-scale federal investigations into illegal gambling that were made public on October 23. The other is an investigation into a mafia-backed, rigged, high-stakes poker game called “Operation Royal Flush,” which led to the arrest of several people, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups. The prosecution said that in the latter case, it is using financial records, phone records, cell phone records and text messages, cell phone extraction and location information, Apple iCloud account contents, eyewitness testimony, and surveillance photos as evidence.
Jones has not yet filed an appeal, but is scheduled to appear in federal court for a trial in New York. Jones’ attorney declined to comment.
According to available records, Jones’ current address appears to be a Houston apartment where a property management company tried to evict him in June 2023, saying he owed about $5,600 in rent.
The agency dismissed the case when Jones failed to appear in court. But in August 2023, the company filed another eviction notice against Jones, this time claiming he owed more than $11,000 in back rent.
Jones again did not appear in court, and the judge entered a default judgment in the company’s favor, giving it ownership of the apartment and awarding Jones a money judgment of $11,240, records show.
When the court attempted to mail Jones a copy of the default judgment, the notice was returned because the address was insufficient.
The agency did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Jones’ financial struggles date back to at least 2013, when his first bankruptcy case was dismissed. Two years later, Jones filed for bankruptcy again, this time reporting debts of $500,000 to $1 million and claiming to have assets in the $100,000 to $500,000 range, according to court records.
Records show Jones owes about $640,000 to creditors and $47,000 to the Bellagio Hotel and Casino due to “breach of contract/confessions of judgment.”
It’s unclear what happened in that bankruptcy case. Bellagio did not respond to inquiries from NBC News.
But in 2019, another man came forward who said Jones owed him money, court records show.
Scott Kerr filed a civil suit against Jones, seeking monetary relief of no more than $100,000. According to the documents, Jones borrowed $10,000 from Kerr. This, plus a $4,000 fee, was to be paid by August 28, 2017.
According to the documents, Jones failed to repay the loan and offered Kerr his 2016 NBA championship ring as collateral for the loan. He also added that no collateral was provided.
Kerr wasn’t the only one Jones stiffed. Between October 2023 and November 2024, Jones filed complaints from three men alleging she had failed to repay thousands of dollars in loans.
One of them, Antonio Hooper, said in a November 2024 filing that Jones agreed in writing to pay him $20,000 in return for a $4,500 loan. His filing included screenshots of text exchanges with Jones, including one in which the former NBA player commented that “Bron” couldn’t get over “that Sports Illustrated article he did.”
Hooper said in a phone interview that Jones did not pay him back. He said the reason he asked for $20,000 was to loan Jones more money after the initial $4,500 loan. He also said that he and Jones have friends in common in the NBA.
“I don’t know what Damon is talking about,” said Hooper, who runs a youth basketball program in Houston. “But I have a friend who was looking for a job in the NBA, and Damon called him for an interview with LeBron. The friend didn’t get the job and LeBron didn’t like Damon using his name. He didn’t appreciate it.”
James did not immediately respond to a request for comment through the Lakers.
Jones was one of more than 30 people arrested in the operation. Also arrested was Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier. When he was playing for the Charlotte Hornets in 2023, he got injured and told a friend in advance that he was going to have to sit out a game, and the friend “sold that tip” to gamblers betting on the Hornets vs. New Orleans Pelicans game.
Like Jones, Rozier was also charged with wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Like Jones, Rozier also had money problems.
In 2023, the IRS filed a federal tax lien against Rozier in Florida for $8.2 million in unpaid taxes from 2021.
According to the lawsuit filed in Florida, in August 2022, a construction company filed a lien against Rozier for more than $270,000. A year later, Rozier paid off all but $20,000 of the lien, court documents show.
Rozier has not yet entered a plea to the federal charges. Rozier’s attorney refuted claims that his client owes the government millions of dollars.
“The federal tax lien story is not a big deal. His total tax debt was about $8 million. An issue arose between his CPA and the IRS with his electronic filing, and the IRS issued a lien for the entire amount. The actual tax shortfall ended up being $3,000, and that amount was repaid in full. We expect the lien, which is now defunct, to be removed in the near future,” Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty, said Friday.
