Jontay Porter to be charged with federal felony after NBA gambling ban

It seems that receiving a lifetime ban from the NBA was just the beginning for former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter.

Porter will be charged with a federal felony connected to the sports betting scandal that caused the NBA to ban him, per a report by the Associated Press.

Federal prosecutors filed what’s known as a criminal information sheet on Tuesday. That document doesn’t specify a court date or the charge or charges, but it does show the case is related to an existing prosecution of four men charged with scheming to cash in on tips from a player about his plans to exit two games early.

In April, the NBA handed the lifetime ban on Porter after an investigation found that Porter leaked confidential information to an individual he knew as an NBA bettor, then later underperformed to influence the outcome of a parlay bet placed by a separate individual.

The league also discovered that at least 13 bets were placed by Porter through an associate’s online betting account between January and March in games in which Porter did not play.

The four men charged last month in the case have appeared in court but haven’t yet entered pleas. They’re charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

A court complaint accused the four — Ammar Awawdeh, Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah and Long Phi Pham — with using prior knowledge of an NBA player’s plans so that they or their relatives could place lucrative bets on his performance in Jan. 26 and March 20 games.

Jontay Porter alleged to have worked with others

Earlier this month, Long Phi Pham, a 38-year-old man, was arrested while attempting to depart from John F. Kennedy Airport to Australia. Pham is accused of colluding with Jontay Porter on placing “prop bets” on sports gambling websites linked to a player’s statistical performance, particularly on a January 26 Raptors game.

The report noted that federal prosecutors alleged that Porter amassed large gambling debts to his co-conspirators, and he was pushed to clear the debt by influencing the outcomes to hit certain bets.

In the case involving Pham, Porter allegedly said he would take himself out early from a January 26 Raptors game and claim he was injured. Three other individuals connected with Porter, aside from Pham, have also been arrested.

The issue involving Porter centers around prop bets made for games played on January 26 and March 20. When the Raptors played the Los Angeles Clippers on Jan. 26, there was increased betting interest on the under for all of Porter’s prop bets. After Porter only played in four minutes, DraftKings Sportsbook reported the following day that the “under” for Porter’s three-pointer prop bet was the biggest money-winner for bettors of any NBA props from games that evening.