{"id":348239,"date":"2025-11-01T15:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T15:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/348239\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T15:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T15:22:12","slug":"damon-jones-used-cavaliers-championship-ring-as-loan-collateral-years-before-fbi-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/348239\/","title":{"rendered":"Damon Jones used Cavaliers championship ring as loan collateral years before FBI arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Damon Jones, who was arrested last week for his alleged involvement in separate illegal sports betting and rigged poker schemes, used his ring for the Cavaliers\u2019 championship in 2016 as collateral for a $10,000 loan \u2014 plus a $4,000 fee \u2014 that wasn\u2019t repaid, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/sports\/nba\/ex-nba-player-damon-jones-allegedly-used-championship-ring-collateral-rcna240974\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Jones spent 11 years in the NBA as a player \u2014 including <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/23\/sports\/lebron-james-dragged-into-nba-gambling-scandal-after-friend-sold-injury-details-feds\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">three as LeBron James\u2019 teammate<\/a> with Cleveland from 2005-08 \u2014 before shifting into coaching, and he worked with the Cavaliers\u2019 G League team before Tyronn Lue put him on the staff by the time that playoff run began, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6747914\/2025\/10\/24\/damon-jones-former-nba-player-feds-info-lakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He allegedly took out a loan from Scott Kerr that was supposed to be repaid by Aug. 28, 2017, according to NBC News, which cited documents.<\/p>\n<p>Kerr eventually filed a civil complaint in 2019 asking for \u201c$100,000 or less\u201d in monetary relief, the outlet added.<\/p>\n<p>Damon Jones is pictured Oct. 23. AP<\/p>\n<p>Follow The Post\u2019s latest on the gambling scandal rocking the NBA:<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the latest strange twist with Jones\u2019 involvement in the scandal that shocked the league last week, when <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/30\/sports\/ty-lue-attended-allegedly-rigged-vegas-poker-game-at-which-chauncey-billups-played\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/28\/sports\/terry-rozier-faced-8-million-tax-lien-in-nba-gambling-scandal-twist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heat guard Terry Rozier<\/a> were among nearly three dozen people arrested for alleged involvement in the scandals.<\/p>\n<p>LeBron James and Damon Jones are pictured during a May 2006 game. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Billups and Jones allegedly served as the \u201cface cards\u201d to draw in people for rigged poker games with connections to the Mafia, while Jones also allegedly provided a tip to someone in the betting ring that James wouldn\u2019t play in the Lakers\u2019 February 2023 game against the Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>He also allegedly received $2,500 for providing a tip that \u201cone of the Lakers\u2019 best players during the 2023-2024 season\u201d would only log limited minutes because of an injury during a January 2024 game.<\/p>\n<p>However, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/24\/sports\/damon-jones-alleged-lakers-inside-info-backfired-in-100000-bet-gone-wrong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">that tip backfired when the Lakers won the game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\tThe FBI has arrested 31 people involved in a rigged poker game ring backed by the New York City organized crime families.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ernest Aiello \u2014 reputed Bonanno mobster<\/li>\n<li>Nelson \u201cSpanish G\u201d Alvarez<\/li>\n<li>Louis \u201cLou Ap\u201d Apicella<\/li>\n<li>Ammar \u201cFlapper Poker\u201d Awawdeh<\/li>\n<li>Saul Becher \u2014 professional poker player<\/li>\n<li>Chauncey Billups \u2014 Portland Trail Blazers coach, NBA Hall of Famer and 2004 NBA champion<\/li>\n<li>Matthew \u201cThe Wrestler\u201d Daddino<\/li>\n<li>Eric \u201cSpooky\u201d Earnest<\/li>\n<li>Lee Fama \u2014 professional poker player<\/li>\n<li>John Gallo<\/li>\n<li>Marco Garzon<\/li>\n<li>Thomas \u201cTommy Juice\u201d Gelardo \u2014 reputed Lucchese mobster charged in 2013 for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2014\/06\/12\/reputed-mobster-sues-city-for-keeping-him-locked-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">beating porn star girlfriend<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Jamie Gilet<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Tony \u201cBlack Tony\u201d Goodson<\/li>\n<li>Kenny Han<\/li>\n<li>Shane \u201cSugar\u201d Henne<\/li>\n<li>Osman \u201cAlbanian Bruce\u201d Hoti<\/li>\n<li>Horatio Hu<\/li>\n<li>Zhen \u201cScruli\u201d Hu<\/li>\n<li>Damon \u201cDee Jones\u201d Jones \u2014 NBA player from 1998 to 2009<\/li>\n<li>Joseph Lanni<\/li>\n<li>John \u201cJohn South\u201d Mazzola<\/li>\n<li>Curtis Meeks<\/li>\n<li>Nicholas Minucci<\/li>\n<li>Michael Renzulli<\/li>\n<li>Anthony Ruggiero Jr.<\/li>\n<li>Anthony \u201cDoc\u201d Shnayderman<\/li>\n<li>Robert \u201cBlack Rob\u201d Stroud<\/li>\n<li>Seth Trustman<\/li>\n<li>Sophia \u201cPookie\u201d Wei<\/li>\n<li>Julius Ziliani<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jones also listed his Yorkshire Terrier as an asset worth $1 when filing for bankruptcy in 2013, according to NBC News, and he was allegedly hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt with what the outlet described as \u201cpersistent financial problems.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Three additional people filed complaints against Jones between October 2023 and November 2024, alleging that he owed them thousands in loan repayments, according to NBC News.<\/p>\n<p>Damon Jones and LeBron James embrace before an April 2023 game. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Michael Osborne, a professional gambler and sports bettor, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/24\/us-news\/damon-jones-would-bring-up-best-friend-lebron-james-at-vegas-casinos-sports-gambler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told The Post\u2019s Kyle Schnitzer<\/a> that Jones was a \u201cbad generate gambler\u201d who would use his relationship with James as a \u201cbusiness card for people to gain some trust in opening up some doors for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In addition to being James\u2019 teammate for three seasons, Jones was on the Cavaliers\u2019 staff from 2016-18 as an assistant coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Damon Jones, who was arrested last week for his alleged involvement in separate illegal sports betting and rigged&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":348240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[17530,3128,3363,3141,1260,162999,163139,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-348239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-betting","9":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","10":"tag-lebron-james","11":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-gambling-scandal-2025","14":"tag-poker","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115475130269932277","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}