Miami Heat guard Terry “Scary Terry’’ Rozier on Monday ponied up his Florida mansion to cover his $3 million bail for his alleged role in the NBA betting scandal — as the feds teased “plea negotiations” in the case.
Rozier, 31 — who was in the fourth and final year of a $96 million contract when busted in October –appeared in Brooklyn federal court in a striped gray suit to plead not guilty during the proceeding.
Prosecutors also revealed Monday that there are plans to engage in plea talks with either Rozier or any of five others, including former NBA player Damon Jones, charged in a sweeping plot to illegally sell inside information on games.
“Plea negotiations will ensue,” noted Judge LaShawn DeArcy Hall before adjourning the case to March 3.
Rozier, who was suspended after his arrest, is accused of tipping off childhood friend Deniro Laster that he’d be faking an injury and leaving a game early March 23, 2023, when Rozier was playing for the Charlotte Hornets.
Laster then agreed to sell the information for $100,000 to a sports betting crew that included self-described gambling gurus Marves “Vezino” Fainley and Shane “Sugar” Hennen, court papers state.
Fainley, Hennen and other gamblers ended up making hundreds of thousands of dollars betting the “under” on Rozier’s various statistics, which they knew Rozier would not hit because he was leaving the game, prosecutors allege.
Rozier faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.
His lawyer, Jim Trusty, vowed Monday to file legal papers aiming to get the case thrown out.
“We’re excited about litigating a legal motion about legal innocence,” Trusty said outside the courtroom as Rozier slipped past reporters on the way to the elevator.
Fainley and Hennen have each pleaded not guilty as well.
Rozier is not currently receiving installments of his $26.6 million salary as he tussles with the NBA in an arbitration dispute, his lawyer said Monday.
Prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York announced a second indictment at the same time as Rozier’s arrest charging former NBA star Chauncey Billups and ex NBA player Jones with serving as bait to lure in victims to rigged poker games backed by four of the five New York mob families.
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