Pistons’ Thomas Denies Gambling Reports

Isiah Thomas denied reports Saturday that he ran high-stakes dice games in his home and was the target of a federal gambling investigation.

Thomas, named as most valuable player of the NBA finals Thursday, met with reporters after news reports that he was the target of the investigation by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service.

“I’m mad and I’m angry,” Thomas said at his lawyers’ offices. “I don’t even know how this happened. I think (Detroit fans) all know the kind of person I am. No one has given me anything in this world. Everything I’ve gotten out of this world, I’ve worked for.”

Thomas acknowledged that he has made small, casual bets, such as whether he could sink a long basketball shot. His lawyers said in a statement released late Saturday afternoon that during his nine years in Detroit, he “on three or four social occasions has been involved in impromptu dice games.”

But, the statement continued: “In none of these games would his wagers be considered ‘high stakes.’ He has never been involved in any way with basketball wagering, or any other form of illegal sports gambling.”

Thomas met for about two hours with FBI agents at his lawyers’ offices to explain his relationship with other alleged targets of the investigation.

“They informed me that I wasn’t a target of their investigation and the only reason they were talking to me was because this story broke,” Thomas said.

John Anthony, FBI spokesman in Detroit, declined to comment.

Sources told WJBK-TV in a report Friday and the Detroit Free Press and Oakland (Mich.) Press in stories published Saturday that a grand jury had subpoenaed checks totaling at least $100,000 that Thomas cashed at a grocery store owned by a neighbor and friend, Imad Denha.

Both Thomas and Denha ran dice games with thousands of dollars at stake at unspecified times at their homes in Oakland County’s West Bloomfield Township, the sources said.

Thomas said he receives a monthly allowance from his accountants, and Denha--the godfather of Thomas’ son Joshua--cashed the checks, ranging from $2,000 to $3,000 each, at his Center Line grocery store. The checks signed by Thomas surfaced during an audit of the grocery store, he said, adding that the checks did not go toward gambling debts.

Authorities have linked Denha to Henry Allen Hilf, the central figure in the gambling investigation, the sources said. Federal authorities consider Hilf to be Michigan’s largest bookmaker, and Denha is a suspected money launderer, they said.

Sources said Thomas’ name was added to the investigation when Piston teammate Mark Aguirre met with a former FBI agent to express concern about Thomas’ associations with gamblers.