Chauncey Billups has made his first court appearance in the federal case charging him with being involved in rigged poker games put on by the mob — and he learned that it will be a very expensive proposition if he decides to skip town.
The former Portland Trail Blazers coach, who was arrested a month ago in the case known as "Operation Royal Flush," appeared in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday (Nov. 24) to plead not guilty to charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, related to his alleged role as a "face card" — a high-profile figure accused of used his status to lure unsuspecting gamblers into the fixed games. He was released on a $5 million bond.
The bond is secured by property Billups and his wife Piper own in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Piper and the Billups' daughter Cydney appeared in court to co-sign the bond.
Among the restrictions Billups faces while the case is ongoing are a ban on gambling of any kind; the surrender of his passport; and a requirement that he send the court a monthly report of any financial transactions he makes over $25,000, except for legal fees.
Also on Monday, all of Operation Royal Flush's 31 defendants appeared in front of Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr. for a brief status hearing. They discussed whether to divide the defendants up into multiple groups in order to make the logistics of the sprawling case easier — something several of the defendants' attorneys argued vehemently against.
In addition, the government set out a timetable for when they plan to release the "fairly voluminous" evidence they've gathered (around 1 terabyte of data just in the initial batch of material) to the defendants. That evidence, prosecutors said, includes cell phones, iCloud accounts, bank records, telephone records, and more.
Assistant US Attorney Michael Gibaldi also confirmed that the government was in the early stages of plea discussions "with at least some defendants." Towards the end of the hearing, Judge Reyes said that he wanted to put the complicated case on a fast track, so that defendants wouldn't be waiting around for years to have their day in court.
"My intention is that this case, in one form or another, I want things to start by September of next year," he told the courtroom. "Do whatever you have to do to get it ready to go."
The defendants in Operation Royal Flush are scheduled to be back in court on March 4 for another status hearing.