Gilbert Arenas is firing back at those who believe he snitched on Chauncey Billups and helped get the Portland Trail Blazers head coach indicted in an FBI gambling investigation.
Billups was charged in connection with an illegal poker ring that was tied to several different Mafia organized crime families last Thursday. Arenas was also indicted several months back for hosting illegal poker games, and many were quick to note the similarities between the two cases.
On Friday, however, Arenas said on a Playback stream that he had nothing to do with the charges in the Billups case, which he argued is much more complex than his own.
“This is a whole different level,” Arenas said, via Brendon Kleen of Awful Announcing. “My case is different. Mine didn’t have no operation name. There’s no operation.”
Indeed, Billups was arrested under an investigation codenamed Operation Royal Flush. In addition, the games Arenas allegedly took part in were in Los Angeles, while the ones Billups is accused of taking part in were in Las Vegas, Miami, and New York. Still, because of the similarities of the cases, that did not stop a lot of people from theorizing that Arenas tipped off authorities in hopes of avoiding a tougher sentence.
Arenas has been charged with operating an illegal gambling business and lying to federal investigators. He has pleaded not guilty and seems confident that he will be able to clear his name.
