Former Raptors Player Jontay Porter Pleads Guilty to Illegal Betting

Porter

Jontay Porter has plead guilty to a federal conspiracy crime in the scandal that already saw him banned from the NBA for life.

“I know what I did was wrong, unlawful, and I am deeply sorry,” the former Raptors center said while pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

He added that he did it “to get out from under large gambling debts.”

Porter, the brother of Denver Nuggets championship Michael Porter Jr., admitted that he agreed to withdraw early from NBA games so that him and four other men could win bets based on his performances.

Porter is free on $250,000 bail, while he awaits sentencing in December.

Prosecutors estimated his sentence at a range from just under three and a half years in prison to just shy over four years.

The 24-year-old told the court that he has undergone treatment for his gambling addiction.

The four men (Ammar Awawdeh, Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah and Long Phi Pham) were in court in June in a related case, but have yet to enter pleas in the case against them.

They are charged with scheming to profit off tips from an NBA player that he was going to exit two games early.

The men or their relatives used the knowledge to place big-winning bets knowing that the unnamed NBA player would do under perform in those games, according to a court complaint filed when they were charged in June.

After tipping off some of the men, the player claimed injury or illness and withdrew from games on early January 26 and March 20 games, the complaint detailed.

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Porter was paid $410,000 this past season and averaged 4.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 26 games for the Toronto Raptors.

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