Former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter is poised to plead guilty in a sports gambling scandal that led to his lifetime ban from the NBA, according to court records reviewed on Wednesday.
An “information sheet” filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn on Tuesday outlines a case involving four men accused of conspiring to profit from bets placed on Porter missing certain performance targets in two games. The scheme hinged on Porter allegedly exiting the games early due to purported health issues.
Porter is scheduled to appear in Brooklyn federal court for a plea agreement hearing on July 10, court records indicate. However, the specific charges against Porter have not been disclosed.
A criminal complaint filed last month against Ammar Awawdeh, Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah, and Long Phi Pham did not name Porter directly but included accusations matching those publicly known against him. The complaint also referenced an NBA press release announcing Porter’s lifetime ban.
The complaint alleges that the four conspirators earned over $1 million by betting that Porter would fail to meet certain statistical milestones. Prosecutors detailed that Porter played only four minutes in a January 26 game against the Los Angeles Clippers before leaving with an eye injury and three minutes in a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings before citing illness.
In addition to these allegations, the NBA’s ban on Porter also highlighted that he had placed 13 bets on league games, including parlay bets, one of which involved wagering on the Raptors to lose.
