LAS VEGAS — A prosecutor said Thursday that former NBA player and coach Damon Jones, arrested in Las Vegas as part of a federal probe into Mafia-linked gambling scams, has a “very serious gambling problem.”

Jones, 49, was charged in an indictment — along with several others — in the Eastern District of New York with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

Jones, a Houston resident, was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Plummer asked Magistrate Judge Elyana J. Youchah to impose conditions on Jones’ pretrial release.

“We ask that he refrain from gambling, including online games,” Plummer said. “He has a very serious gambling problem.”

An unsealed indictment said that Jones and more than 30 others were involved in two criminal cases beginning in 2019 in which rigged sports bets and poker games defrauded victims of millions of dollars.

At least one of the poker games took place in Las Vegas, the indictment said. NBA Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups and four others — Eric Earnest, Jamie Gilet, Robert Stroud and Sophia Wei — participated in the 2019 match in which they defrauded other gamblers of at least $50,000.

Jones was an unofficial assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2022-23 season when authorities said he was involved in at least one of the schemes, according to the indictment.

He has been coaching since at least 2014 after finishing an 11-year NBA playing career. Authorities confirmed that only one of the indicted defendants was arrested in Las Vegas.

The indictment also said that Jones and Billups acted as “face cards” in the fraud scheme, meaning that their professional success and status were used to attract victims.

“The Face Cards were members of the Cheating Teams and received a portion of the criminal proceeds in exchange for their participation in the scheme,” the indictment said.

Jones has also been accused of participating in a years-long sports-betting conspiracy in which, using insider information, he and co-defendants influenced the outcomes of NBA games or players, enabling them to place wagers totaling thousands of dollars, according to authorities.

Plummer also requested that Jones be banned from transferring assets over $10,000 and that his future travel be limited to the Houston area, where he would live with his mother, and to the Eastern District of New York only for legal matters related to his case. The judge agreed.

Jones said he could not afford his own attorney and requested a public defender. Federal Public Defender Rohit Rajan represented Jones and did not object to the release conditions.

Rajan also said that Jones was willing to surrender his passport, his only form of identification, upon his return to Texas. Jones is due again in court in Texas on Nov. 24.

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