2 more charged in betting scandal that spurred NBA to bar Raptors’ Jontay Porter for life
NEW YORK — Two more men were charged in police custody on Thursday sports betting scandal that prompted the NBA to ban the former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter for life.
Timothy McCormack and Mahmud Mollah now join two other men — Long Phi Pham and a fourth whose name remains redacted in a court complaint — as defendants in a federal fraud case over betting allegedly based on tips from a player about his plans to leave two games. asked.
Prosecutors have not publicly named Porter in connection with the case, but game dates and other details about the “Player 1” named in the court documents are consistent with Porter and his banishment from the NBA in April. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have declined to comment on whether the former attacker is under investigation.
Up-to-date contact information could not immediately be found for Porter or any agent or other representative he may have.
An NBA investigation found in April that he tipped off bettors about his health and then reported illness to end at least one game and make some bets work. Porter also gambled on NBA games he did not play in after betting against his own team, the league said.
Prosecutors say McCormack, Mollah, Pham and an unidentified fourth defendant took part in a scheme to get “Player 1” to take himself off the field so they could win bets against his performance.
And they won, with Mollah’s bets on a March 20 match netting more than $1.3 million, according to the complaint. It said Pham, the player and the unnamed defendant would each get about a quarter of those winnings, and McCormack a 4% cut, before a gambling company became suspicious and stopped Mollah from collecting most of the money.
McCormack also cleared more than $33,000 for a bet on a Jan. 26 game, the complaint said.
His attorney, Jeffrey Chartier, said Thursday that “no case is a slam-dunk.” He declined to comment on whether his client knows Porter.
Attorneys for Mollah and Pham would not comment on the allegations.
McCormack, 36, of New York, and Mollah, 24, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, were each granted $50,000 bond after their arraignment Thursday. A judge Agreed Wednesday to release Pham to house arrest and electronic monitoring on a $750,000 bond. The 38-year-old Brooklyn resident, who also uses the first name Bruce, remained in custody Thursday while paperwork and other details were completed.
According to the complaint, “Player 1” had racked up significant gambling debts by early 2024, and the unnamed defendant urged him to meet his obligations by doing a “special” – their early exit code from certain games to ensure success of bets to guarantee he would perform below expectations.
‘If I don’t do a special on your terms. Then the time has come. And you hate me and if I don’t get you 8k by Friday you’re coming to Toronto to beat me up,” the player said in a coded message, according to the complaint.
It says he then told the defendants he planned to take himself out of the Jan. 26 game early, claiming an injury.
Porter played 4 minutes, 24 seconds in that game against the Los Angeles Clippers before saying he had aggravated an eye problem. He had scored no points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, less than what sportsbooks expected. That meant a payday for anyone who bet on the under.
The player then told the defendants that he would leave the March 20 game by saying he was sick. Porter played 2 minutes and 43 seconds against the Sacramento Kings that day, finishing with no points or assists and 2 rebounds, again below the betting line.
After the NBA and others began an investigation, the player warned Pham, Mollah and the unnamed defendant via an encrypted messaging app that they “might get wa rico” — an apparent reference to the common acronym for a federal racketeering indictment — and asked if the complaint said they had deleted “anything” from their phones.
NBA players, coaches, referees and other team personnel are prohibited for betting at one of the league games or at events such as draft picks.
In banning Porter, NBA commissioner Adam Silver called the forward’s actions “egregious.”