Terry Rozier is seeking a return to the NBA following his arrest over his alleged involvement in an illegal sports betting and insider trading scandal, however, he's facing some legal pushback from the Charlotte Hornets and the league itself.
Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall is mulling over a request from Rozier to remove a bond condition that blocks his path to playing again in the NBA, and asked the basketball association and Hornets for its input.
According to a court filing, obtained by Complex, an attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York informed Hall that the NBA and Hornets — Rozier's former team — were in support of keeping the bond condition in place.
As part of his release on bond, Rozier was given a no-contact list, which includes the Hornets organization, as well as former and current coaches and staff members. The NBA argued that Rozier "would be in a position to interact with potential witnesses in or around the arena, both before and after games," if he were allowed back into the league.
The filing indicated that Rozier allegedly texted someone who is on the no-contact list. There are also "credible allegations" that "at least one co-defendant, potentially acting on Mr. Rozier’s behalf, has contacted witnesses regarding the case."
While the Miami Heat, the team that Rozier was playing for when he was arrested, have been removed from the no-contact list, the Hornets remain because "numerous personnel" on the 2023 team are considered witnesses to the March 23, 2023 game in which he allegedly exited early to fulfill prop bets, in exchange for a $100,000 bribe.
Two months after he was waived by the Heat, Rozier was ordered to forfeit most of his $26.6 million salary after an arbitrator ruled that he violated the terms of his contract with the team. The ruling came after another independent arbitrator previously determined Rozier was owed the salary that was being withheld by the league.
In a court document, filed on Tuesday (June 16), Rozier's attorney James Trusty told Hall that the NBA and Heat "have 26 million reasons to try to use bond conditions as a disqualification for Terry Rozier from playing basketball."
Trusty claimed the NBA has "ghost-written a parade of horribles for the Government's letter to suggest that allowing Mr. Rozier to take the court would lead to obstruction of justice."
Hall has not issued her ruling yet.
