Jontay Porter, the disgraced NBA player who received a lifetime ban for betting on games, is now facing criminal charges related to his gambling scheme. In a recent court filing, Porter was listed on the docket of the Brooklyn Federal Court for the first time in connection to the alleged betting ring that was facilitated by his deliberate poor performance.
According to the filing, federal prosecutors are seeking felony charges against the 24-year-old Porter, linking him to four defendants who were charged in the betting scheme the previous month. The four gamblers – Long Phi Pham, Mahmud Mollah, Timothy McCormack, and Ammar Awawdeh – were informed by Porter that he would intentionally underperform during two NBA games. These games were a Jan. 26 matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers and a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings.
The defendants made “prop bets”, which are wagers on specific statistical categories like points or rebounds, based on the information provided by Porter. One defendant reportedly made $1.13 million from betting on Porter’s performances. As a result, they are facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and other offenses as a result of these games.
Porter was issued a lifetime ban by the NBA on April 4, after he was found to be sharing confidential information with sports bettors and manipulating his own participation in games for gambling purposes. His attorney, Jeff Jensen, has not commented on the new charges against Porter at this time.