The same year Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was alleged to have manipulated his performance in an NBA game as part of gambling schemes, he was facing an $8 million tax lien from the Internal Revenue Service, according to county clerk records obtained by ESPN.
The IRS filed the $8,218,211 federal income tax lien in Broward County, Florida, where Rozier has a residence, in November 2023. The lien would have been filed after past due notices were sent to the taxpayer, according to Florida tax attorney Steven N. Klitzner.
“It shouldn’t be a surprise to them,” he said.
ESPN has contacted Rozier’s attorney, Jim Trusty of Ifrah Law, for comment.
According to a federal indictment unsealed last Thursday, Rozier is accused of providing nonpublic information about his plans to leave a March 2023 game early to a friend, Deniro Laster, who then sold it to bettors for about $100,000. Rozier played just over nine minutes before leaving the game, citing a foot injury.
Rozier paid for Laster to travel to Philadelphia to collect the proceeds from the scheme, according to the indictment, before driving to Rozier’s home to count the money with him.
Rozier and Laster were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They were among 34 defendants arrested last week in two sweeping federal gambling investigations.
Trusty said in a statement at the time that his client is “not a gambler” and “looks forward to winning this fight.”
The NBA put Rozier on leave after the indictment became public. The league investigated Rozier in 2023 after suspicious prop bets were placed on the unders on his statistics in the game but found at the time that he had not violated league rules. Last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that Rozier had cooperated with the NBA’s investigation and the league “ultimately concluded that there was insufficient evidence, despite that aberrational behavior.”
The IRS has 30 days to file a lien release after a debt has been paid. There is no lien release on record, according to the county clerk’s office. No one from the IRS responded to emails from ESPN seeking further information on whether one was pending.
The address on the tax lien corresponds to a company in California incorporated in 2024 called GMB Chronicles, which also lists Rozier as an officer and holds the trademark rights to his nickname, “Scary Terry.”
Records from Broward County also showed a construction lien filed against Rozier in August 2022 for about $271,000, of which $250,000 was paid by July 2023. The lien was for a variety of work being done on his $5.3 million property on the western side of the county.
Rozier signed a four-year, $96.3 million contract with the Charlotte Hornets on Aug. 24, 2021, and then was traded to Miami on Jan. 23, 2024. Including this season, Rozier has a career $161.7 million in on-court earnings.
