Lawyers for disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy claim that other referees altered the results of playoff games in 2002 and 2005 in a letter filed on Tuesday.
Donaghy faces up to 33 months in prison in a July 14 sentencing after a felony conviction for betting on games and taking cash payoffs from gamblers.
But the letter alleging a deeper NBA match-fixing scheme came from Donaghy’s attorneys to US District Court here in hopes of having Donaghy’s sentence reduced by showing cooperation with a federal investigation into the matter.
“He’s rehashing a variety of things that have been given to the US Attorney and the FBI, fully investigated and are baseless,” NBA commissioner David Stern said. “Mr. Donaghy is the only one that is guilty of a crime.”
The letter appears to make reference to a 2005 first-round series in which Houston Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy had complained that Chinese star center Yao Ming had been targeted by referees for foul calls against Dallas.
No teams were mentioned in the letter but details mentioned in the letter match those surrounding the Mavericks-Rockets series.
“Team 3 lost the first two games in the series and Team 3’s owner complained to NBA officials,” the letter said. “Team 3’s owner alleged that referees were letting a Team 4 player get away with illegal screens.”
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban complained after the Rockets won the first two games, with the unnamed player thought to be Yao, and Dallas rallied to win the series in seven games.
“NBA Executive Y told Referee Supervisor Z that the referees for that game were to enforce the screening rules strictly against that Team 4 player. Referee Supervisor Z informed the referees about his instructions. As an alternate referee for that game, Tim also received these instructions,” the letter said.
Van Gundy, who was fined US$100,000 for hinting at wrongdoing by referees, said that a referee working the games had told him about the NBA plan, with Donaghy’s letter claiming that Supervisor Z contacted the coach.
In the letter, Donaghy said a referee who ejected a star player in the first quarter of a game in 2000 received a private reprimand.
Donaghy also alleges that referees have relationships with players in violation of NBA contracts.
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