Brooklyn man arrested in sports betting scheme with banned NBA player Jontay Porter

NBA

By Kyle Schnitzer

A Brooklyn man was arrested for allegedly teaming up with a former Toronto Raptors forward — who was banned for life for sports gambling — to bet on games he knew the disgraced NBA player was going to call. , federal authorities announced Tuesday.

Long Phi Pham, 38, also known as “Bruce,” was arrested Monday while trying to board a one-way flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Australia. simple, according to a complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court.

He is accused of working with Jontay Porter, 24, to place “side bets” – also known as proposition, or betting placed on a player's performance, such as betting on the over or under of a certain statistical category like points or rebounds. .

Federal prosecutors say Porter racked up large gambling debts early in the year from co-conspirators and was encouraged to wipe out those debts by arranging games so certain bets would succeed.

In that case, Porter, a journeyman between the Raptors and their G-League affiliate, allegedly told Pham he was going to pull out early from the Jan. 26 game against the Los Angeles Clippers, claiming he was injured , federal authorities said. .

Porter only played four minutes in the game and recorded zero points, three rebounds and one assist before leaving with an alleged eye injury. A co-conspirator in the case placed a side bet, cashing in on a $10,000 bet by betting on the below on each of these statistical categories, according to the complaint.

The disgraced NBA player allegedly communicated with the group of co-conspirators via the group chat app Telegram when he informed them before another game – this time on March 20 against the Sacramento Kings – claiming that he was going to say he was sick of leaving a game early. .

Pham and others allegedly agreed to share the profits of their winnings with Porter before betting on his performance multiple times at an Atlantic City casino.

Porter then withdrew from the game due to illness after just three minutes, recording zero points, three rebounds and zero assists – earning Pham and his co-conspirators more than $1 million in profits, according to the federal government.

Later, on April 4, the same day Porter was banned for life from basketball for betting on games, he allegedly texted the chat group and told them they “might get hit wa rico” – referring to an accusation of racketeering – before asking them if they “delete[d] all that” from their personal cell phone.

During its investigation, the NBA said Porter — the brother of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr. — placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using someone else's account, with bets ranging from $15 to $22,000.

The league found that Porter “better disclosed confidential information to sports” and “limited his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes.”

The allegations against Porter, who is not identified in Pham's complaint, match the description of “Player 1” in court documents.

The federal government is seeking three additional people who remain at large.

Pham attempted to leave the country by booking a one-way ticket to Australia a day after the government attempted to question him, according to the complaint.

He was strapped to JFK with a bag filled with $12,000 in cash, two cashier's checks worth $80,000 and several betting slips, according to the complaint.

Pham was arraigned Tuesday on wire fraud charges and faces up to 20 years in prison.

A bail hearing for Pham was set for Wednesday.

Pham's attorney, Michael Soshnick, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.