Spokespeople for Carter and James confirmed the interviews took place. “In 2021, before 38 states and the District of Columbia legalized sports betting, Maverick Carter was interviewed once by federal law enforcement in connection with the Wayne Knicks investigation,” spokesman Adam Mendel Adam Mendelsohn said in a statement. “Mr. Carter was not a target of the investigation, he was cooperative, was never charged, and was never contacted again regarding this matter.”
He declined to answer questions about James, saying Carter’s bet had “nothing to do with him.” In interviews with law enforcement, Carter denied placing bets for others.
Carter, 42, is inextricably linked to James, who for two decades has been the NBA’s largely scandal-free and business-savvy face. They are childhood friends from Akron, Ohio, who jointly own a media company worth hundreds of millions of dollars and are minority owners of the Boston Red Sox and English soccer club Liverpool FC.
The revelations of Carter’s gambling on NBA games come as the league and the broader U.S. sports industry fully embrace legal betting – including the impending sale of an NBA team to a casino giant – despite concerns about the integrity of the game.
Records show Carter and his attorney told investigators, Over the course of a year, I placed approximately 20 bets on football and basketball games, ranging from $5,000 to $10,000 each time. The indictment in the case alleges that in November 2019, during the Lakers’ championship run, Knicks partner Eden Kagasov told a “professional basketball player’s business manager” via text message that he could transfer his NBA game wages Increased to $25,000.
NBA policy prohibits players, teams and league officials from participating in gambling on NBA games, but the league has no authority over business managers or agents. The National Basketball Players Association, the players union, bans agents but not business managers from betting on the NBA. Both the NBA and the Players Association declined to comment.
According to prosecutors, Nix and his partners had a client list filled with athletes and other sports figures, including former Major League Baseball star Yasiel Puig. But previously unreported records show the Knicks have a particularly deep connection to basketball.
Retired NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen also admitted to making at least one bet with the Knicks, according to another investigative report reviewed by The Washington Post. The Knicks participated in a members-only tournament at Michael Jordan’s exclusive golf club in Florida, with other attendees including multiple NBA team owners and other stars in sports, Hollywood, finance and media. There is no indication in court records reviewed by The Washington Post that Jordan, who until recently owned the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, bet on sports through Nix.
Jordan’s longtime agent, David Falk, declined to comment on whether Jordan had any relationship with the Knicks. Jordan’s business manager, Estee Portnoy, did not respond to a request for comment. Pippen did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Although Carter and Pippen have not previously appeared in public court records, their interviews were cited in the court dispute between prosecutors and Puig earlier this year. Puig is the only athlete client to be charged in connection with the Knicks operation, and he is accused not of illegal betting but of lying to investigators, which he denies. Prosecutor Jeff Mitchell said in legal documents that Carter and Pippen made “arguably” or “technically” false statements during interviews but later clarified them. Neither man has been charged. Puig’s trial is scheduled for January.
The Justice Department declined to answer specific questions for this article. After a reporter reached out to Mitchell for comment about Carter and Pippen, prosecutors filed a motion citing the request and seeking to seal more records from the case “to prevent the identification of other Knicks clients.” spread further”.
Nix and several others were allegedly linked to the betting ring, in which a network of U.S. bookmakers used call centers and websites in Costa Rica to place bets. In addition to Puig, the indictment names well-known figures in basketball, soccer and baseball, but does not specifically name those individuals as among the more than 1,000 clients of the illegal network.
Nix’s own sentencing has been repeatedly delayed. His attorney, Steven Madison, declined to comment.
Carter and Pippen were among dozens of “non-target witnesses” interviewed by prosecutors and agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the Internal Revenue Service starting in September 2021, court records show. By then, agents had searched the homes of several bookmakers, and at least six targets of the investigation had pledged to cooperate.
Pippen told his agent in a phone interview that he considered the Knicks a “good friend” and golfing partner. He denied knowing Nix was a gambler and said vaguely that he believed Nix, a former minor league baseball player, lived on “the fruits of his labor,” according to the interview.
The report shows that Pippen told investigators that he had “no recollection” of placing bets with the Knicks, including on the 2019 Super Bowl. But then the agent approached Pippen with his specific bet on the event. Reports indicate the Knicks offered Pippen a $20,000 bet with $2,500 at risk — a clear example of the Knicks offering promotions to some punters.
Pippen initially said he didn’t remember the bet, but then he thought about it and remembered it, the report said. He told federal agents that Nix “gave up” his losses on that bet.
During the interview, one of the agents warned Pippen that federal regulations made it a crime to lie to federal investigators. The report noted that the statute was among the charges filed against Martha Stewart, although agents told the basketball superstar they “did not foresee that Pippen’s reaction would trigger a violation” of the statute. Nonetheless, they “demand that Pippen answer these questions truthfully.”
Over the next month, investigators conducted a video interview with Carter, who was a passenger in his car, and two attorneys who participated in the interview. Prosecutor Mitchell also explained to Carter, as is customary among investigators, that the law makes it a crime to lie during such interviews, according to a report detailing the interview.
Agents reportedly showed Carter photos of several people involved in the gambling operation, and Carter said he recognized only one of them: Knicks, with whom he had played cards several times in Las Vegas.
Carter said he met Nix in 2017 or 2018 through a friend named Jeff from Ohio, and Carter said he didn’t remember Jeff’s last name. But other records reveal links between Carter and Knicks’ actions.
In court and law enforcement records, prosecutors identified an alleged “significant customer” of Knicks sportsbooks: Joey Schottenstein, the owner of Ohio billionaire Jay Schottenstein. Jay Schottenstein’s son, Jay Schottenstein, has run companies including American Eagle Outfitters. The Schottensteins are major donors to Ohio State University, and LeBron James calls them his “family.” James attended Joey’s brother Jeffrey’s wedding, and he and Carter helped promote Jeffrey’s clothing line, TACKMA – which stands for “They Can All Kiss My A–“.
Court records show that in 2019, Puig paid off some of his gambling debts by mailing two checks totaling $200,000 to Joey Schottenstein. Additionally, prosecutors said Kagasov was “responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Knicks’ gambling operations,” and that Kagasov counted Jeffrey Schottenstein as one of his friends on the payment app Venmo, which would Leak some contact information in the user’s mobile phone. (Kagasov’s lawyer did not respond to repeated requests for comment.)
The investigative report did not say whether agents asked Carter whether the man he knew as Jeff from Ohio was Jeffrey Schottenstein. A spokesman for Carter did not respond to questions from The Washington Post. Jeffrey and Joey Schottenstein did not respond to requests for comment.
Carter told agents that Nix would follow him and others when he was in Las Vegas. Carter said that outside of Las Vegas, he and Knicks only talked by phone. When agents asked him if he still had Nix’s phone number, Carter said he deleted the number after learning the government “was paying attention” to Nix. Carter disclosed his own phone number to investigators, which he said he used to text Nix and said he “did not use any other phone.”
Carter acknowledged that he knew Knicks was involved in gambling and said Knicks owed him poker and football money. Carter told his agent that the 20 bets he placed through Knicks involved college football, the NFL and the NBA, and he said he would text Knicks or place the bets directly through Sand Island Sports, a Costa Rican website used by Knicks. Carter said he didn’t know anything about Eaton Kagasov.
Carter said he paid and received bonuses from the Knicks via wire transfers and cash, and revealed the identity of one of his employees who he said was responsible for distributing the cash. Federal agents asked Carter if any of his answers were “truthful and not misleading,” and Carter said they were, according to the investigative report.
Agents located another Carter employee, Tramonte Pointer, and Carter admitted that Pointer was also in the money transfer and remittance business, the report said. Pointer did not respond to a request for comment. When asked again, Carter said he was telling the truth.
Then, after the interview, one of Carter’s attorneys, Colin Jennings, emailed prosecutors, Mitchell. Actually, Jennings wrote that the only person involved in Carter’s cash handouts was his driver, Poynter, nicknamed “Cheese.” But Jennings wrote that because Poynter was driving Carter at the time of the interview, Carter “felt uncomfortable” discussing him. Additionally, Jennings said Poynter dealt with Kagasov “and may have spoken with others associated with him.”
Jennings also told Carter “probably communicated with Nix on another phone,” a number provided by the attorney. Finally, Jennings wrote that while Carter couldn’t remember how much he bet with the Knicks, his bets typically ranged from $5,000 to $10,000, meaning the cash losses were likely around $20,000 to $40,000. “We hope this clarification and addition is clear and if you require any further information please let me know,” Jennings wrote.
Four months later, in March 2022, an indictment was made public against the Knicks and the other bookmakers in their operations.Puig also came later be accused.
Mitchell prosecutors mentioned Pippen and Carter in a document filed earlier this year in Puig’s case but did not disclose their names. Puig claims he was the victim of selective prosecution because he is black. The judge ultimately rejected that argument. In response to Puig’s motion, Mitchell described “false statements” made by Pippen, a “prominent black athlete,” and Carter, a “black manager of a prominent black athlete,” who were not charged.
“The government’s decision not to bring charges against prominent black athletes and black business managers … despite their false statements,” Mitchell argued, “undercuts (Puig’s) assertion that the government’s actions stemmed from bias.”