Celebrities, professional sports stars and wealthy gamblers sat at a table hoping to win big in a game of Texas Hold 'Em.
But they didn't know it was nearly impossible. They were "fishes" allegedly being targeted by the mafia in an elaborate poker gambling scheme that included X-ray card tables, secret cameras, analysers in chip trays and sunglasses and contact lenses that could read their hand.
In what sounds like an Ocean's Eleven film plot, prosecutors say these "unwitting" victims were cheated out of at least $7 million in poker games - with one person losing at least $1.8 million.
The scheme, which US prosecutors described as "reminiscent of a Hollywood movie," was dismantled in a sprawling federal investigation that led to more than 30 arrests, including members of the La Costra Nostra crime families, Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and former player Damon Jones.
FBI director Kash Patel called it a "mind-boggling" fraud scheme that cheated victims in New York, Miami, Las Vegas and other US cities.
