The NBA permanently banned former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter after two additional individuals were accused on Thursday in connection with the sports betting scandal.
In a federal wire fraud case with bets purportedly based on indications from a player about his intentions to leave two games early, Timothy McCormack and Mahmud Mollah now stand in court alongside two other individuals, Long Phi Pham and a fourth whose identity is still withheld in a court complaint.
Although game dates and other information about the “Player 1” stated in court records correspond with Porter and his April NBA ban, prosecutors have not officially implicated Porter in relation to the investigation. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have declined to comment on whether the NBA forward is being looked at.
It was not possible to locate Porter’s current contact information or that of any agent or other representative he might have.
In April, an NBA investigation discovered that he had misled gamblers about his health, then used that information to withdraw from at least one game and win some bets. According to the league, Porter also wagered on NBA games in which he did not play, including one wager against his own team.
The prosecution claims that McCormack, Mollah, Pham, and the fourth defendant—who is still unidentified—participated in a plot to persuade “Player 1” to withdraw from the game so that they might profit from wagers placed against his performance.
And win they did, according to the complaint, with Mollah’s wagers on a game on March 20th bringing in almost $1.3 million. According to the report, Pham, the player, and the anonymous defendant were each expected to receive roughly 25% of the earnings, with McCormack receiving a 4% share, before a betting firm became suspicious and prevented Mollah from receiving the majority of the funds.
According to the complaint, McCormack also won more than $33,000 from a wager on a game on January 26.
On Thursday, his lawyer, Jeffrey Chartier, stated that “no case is a slam-dunk.” When asked if his client knew Porter, he remained silent.
Mollah and Pham’s attorneys have refrained from responding to the accusations.
Following their arraignments on Thursday, McCormack, 36, of New York, and Mollah, 24, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, were each given a $50,000 bond. Pham will be released on a $750,000 bail to home detention and electronic monitoring, the judge decided on Wednesday. The 38-year-old Brooklynite, who also goes by Bruce, was kept under arrest on Thursday while certain formalities were resolved.
By the start of 2024, “Player 1” accumulated large gambling debts, the lawsuit claims, and the unidentified defendant encouraged him to pay them off by completing a “special”—their term for quitting some games early in order to guarantee the success of wagers that he would underperform.
“If I don’t do a special with your terms. Then it’s up. And u hate me and if I don’t get u 8k by Friday you’re coming to Toronto to beat me up,” the player said in an encrypted message, according to the complaint.
It states that he continued by informing the defendants of his intention to withdraw from the game on January 26 early, citing an injury.
Porter said he had worsened an eye issue after playing 4 minutes and 24 seconds against the Los Angeles Clippers. Sportsbooks had predicted that he would score less than zero points, three rebounds, and one assist. That implied a profit for those who wagered on the “under.”
The player then allegedly informed the defendants that he would leave the game on March 20 by claiming to be ill, according to the lawsuit. That day, Porter played two minutes and forty-three seconds against the Sacramento Kings. He finished with two rebounds, no assists, and no points—against the betting line.
The player, according to the complaint, asked whether Pham, Mollah, and the unidentified defendant had erased “all the stuff” from their phones and threatened them that they “might just get hit w a rico” (a apparent reference to the common acronym for a federal racketeering charge) via an encrypted messaging app after the NBA and others started looking into the matter.
It is against the rules for NBA players, coaches, officials, and other team members to wager on any league game or on things like draft picks.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver referred to Porter’s behavior as “blatant” when he issued the ban.
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