Rozier’s lawyers bet everything on one text message
Terry Rozier wants out. His attorneys filed a motion on Friday asking a federal judge to throw out two of the four charges hanging over the veteran guard, and their whole argument rests on a single text.
The message came from Deniro Laster, a friend and co-defendant, on March 29, 2023. In it, Laster told someone not to breathe a word to Rozier about a bet placed on him six days earlier, back when Rozier suited up for the Charlotte Hornets. “Don’t tell chum ’bout the bet,” it read, using what the defense says is Rozier’s nickname.
For attorneys David Markus and Anita Margot Moss, that line settles it. “This should end the case,” they wrote. “One does not hide a bet from the person who supposedly sold it.”
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What prosecutors say happened
The government tells a different story. Federal prosecutors claim Rozier agreed to pocket $100,000 to pull himself out of a March 2023 game against the Hornets so a betting ring could cash prop wagers on his numbers. He fell short of his season averages in points, assists and 3-pointers that night, though he cleared the line on rebounds.
Prosecutors already answered the motion and asked the judge to deny it. They wrote that they have “developed evidence from multiple sources that this text chain does not relate to sports gambling.” Markus and Moss are targeting the sports bribery and honest services fraud counts, and they also want the case shifted from the Eastern District of New York to the Southern District of Florida.
This is not Rozier’s first attempt. Back in December, he asked the judge to toss the other two counts, wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering. That request is still sitting on the judge’s desk without a ruling.
A trial date and heavy company
Rozier, 32, was arrested in October. Prosecutors added the sports bribery and honest services wire fraud conspiracy counts in May. He pleaded not guilty and has denied everything through his lawyers.
He is one of six people originally charged and is set to stand trial on February 8 alongside former NBA player Damon Jones and Shane Hennen. Hennen, described as one of the gamblers tied to the probe, pleaded guilty earlier this week in a separate rigged poker scheme that swept up 30 others, including Hall of Famer and former Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups.
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