Four People Charged in Jontay Porter Sports Betting Investigation

The NBA’s Jontay Porter betting scandal keeps getting worse.

The US Attorney’s office announced that they have arrested two other people in connection with Jontay Porter’s illegal betting scheme. They accuse the two of getting Porter to agree to tamper with his stats to cover mounting gambling debts. While Porter had shown some concern with the idea, he did agree to leave two pre-determined games early with a faked injury. 

According to the US Attorney’s filing, Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah, Long Phi Pham, and one unnamed accomplice were involved in the scandal. The group knew each other through their illegal betting operation, which Porter used to avoid detection from Ontario sportsbooks when placing bets. When Porter’s gambling debts began to rack up, the group set a plan in motion for Porter to pay them off.

According to messages shared on the messaging app Telegram, the group agreed that Porter would exit two games early. The group placed large bets for Porter to go under on several player prop bets, which all won thanks to his early exit from the games. However, sportsbooks flagged the bets as suspicious, which led to the original investigation into Porter.

Porter Bet on Many NBA Games

While the arrests over Porter’s scandal have captured all the headlines, it has been found that the former Toronto Raptors player commonly wagered on NBA games. While he has not been found to have bet on any games he played in, he did bet against his own team at least once. Even though he wasn’t playing, betting against your own team is a cardinal sin in sports.

Like so many other athletes who have been busted for illegal betting, Porter has an ugly record of success. That includes betting on NBA games, a league he far more about than any other bettor. While that doesn’t make a difference in the case, it should resonate with other players. Hopefully, this story will become more about the dangers of reckless betting for athletes nationwide.