A Brooklyn man was arrested Monday and charged with conspiring with others, including recently expelled NBA player Jontay Porter, to defraud a gambling company, prosecutors in New York City announced Thursday.
According to the indictment, Long Phi Pham, nicknamed “Bruce,” was apprehended while trying to board a flight to Australia with a one-way ticket at John F. Kennedy International Airport. He reportedly had $12,000 in cash, two checks totaling $80,000, betting slips and three cell phones.
The ticket was reportedly purchased a day after the government attempted to question one of Pham’s three alleged co-conspirators, all of whom remain at large. Their identity will be reflected in the criminal complaint.
The DOJ announcement and criminal complaint do not identify Porter by name, but the details of the case match exactly what led to Porter being banned from the NBA for life. ESPN has also identified Porter as the player involved.
Jontay Porter is said to have disappeared from the matches due to debts to the bookmaker
The new information is that Porter has allegedly racked up “significant” gambling debts to one of the defendants, who is accused of encouraging him to pay off those debts with a “special” (i.e., taking himself out of a game early to ensure his unders are hit). .
One of the messages prosecutors added shows Porter telling the defendant, “If I don’t take special action on your terms. Then the time has come. And you hate me and if I don’t get you an 8k by Friday, you’re coming to Toronto to beat me up.”
Porter then left a Toronto Raptors game on January 22 with what was diagnosed as a corneal abrasion. Porter allegedly told Pham and his co-conspirators that he would withdraw from a game on January 26, which he did by posting zero points, three rebounds and one assist. He told team officials he had aggravated the corneal wear, but a video review showed there was no contact with Porter’s eyes.
Meanwhile, a relative of one of the defendants allegedly bet $10,000 on the under for Porter’s points, assists and steals, the success of which netted them $75,000. Another defendant allegedly bet $7,000 on a parlay of points, assists and rebounds and scored $33,250.
Before another match on March 20, Porter complained of symptoms consistent with food poisoning, after which he reportedly told Pham’s group that he would be leaving the match early. The group is said to have agreed on a profit-sharing arrangement under which Porter would receive 24% of the profits.
Pham continued playing the game and eliminated himself after three minutes, while the defendants allegedly placed a series of underbets. Among the bets the DOJ notes, they allegedly wagered a total of $109,900 and made a profit of $1,167,625.
If the group had executed their profit-sharing plan, that windfall would have netted Porter $280,230.
However, at this point the gambling companies involved understandably became suspicious and suspended one defendant’s account. They then reported the bets to the NBA and the International Betting Integrity Association, who then turned the case over to the FBI.
It was a remarkably brazen scheme that involved betting inexplicable amounts of money on a little-known player, making it easy to catch him.
Jontay Porter: ‘Maybe hit by Rico’
After the games that would cost him his NBA career, Porter reportedly texted the group “maybe hit wa rico” and asked them if they had “deleted[d] all the stuff” from their personal cell phones. “Rico” is a reference to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which is often used to crack down on organized crime.
The group was apparently unhappy with the freezing of their funds at this point, as one defendant texted the other: “I really need you to hustle. [Betting Company 1]. At least give me my principal back.” At that point, the NBA had banned Porter.
