The United States Attorney’s Office filed a criminal complaint Tuesday charging Long Phi Pham with conspiring with others to defraud a sports betting company by placing under prop bets on a player in NBA games on Jan. 26 and March 20.
The United States Office of the Eastern District of New York announced the filing, which was in a Brooklyn federal court, and said authorities arrested Pham on Monday.
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Pham, who appeared in court Tuesday afternoon and was initially detained pending trial, was released Thursday after posting a $750,000 bond. Two of the three co-conspirators, Timothy McCormack and Mahmud Mollah, were also released Thursday after posting a $50,000 bond and agreeing to conditions, including turning over their passports. The status and identity of the third co-conspirator charged in the scheme is unknown.
In early 2024, an NBA player, who the attorney’s office called Player 1 and did not name, owed large gambling debts “to certain of the co-conspirators” and was encouraged to exit certain games early to ensure they won prop bets placed on his performance, according to the attorney’s office.
Although Player 1 is not named, the details of the attorney’s filing align with the findings of the NBA’s investigation into Jontay Porter, a former member of the Toronto Raptors, who was banned from the league in April for betting on NBA games and sharing inside information.
The league said Porter, who split his time between the NBA and the G League, privately told a sports bettor he was injured, removed himself from a game to control prop bets on his own play and placed his own wagers on NBA games.
According to the attorney’s office, Player 1 suffered an eye injury in a game on Jan. 22, 2024, and exited the contest early but was never placed on the NBA’s injury list. Ahead of a Jan. 26 game, Player 1 told Pham he would remove himself from the game early due to injury.
That day, Player 1 entered the game midway through the first quarter and tallied three rebounds and one assist in four minutes of playing time. Player 1 exited the game after complaining to team officials about reaggravating his eye injury.
Player 1’s performance in multiple statistical categories in the Jan. 26 game was under the amounts set by a betting company in prop bets related to the player, per the attorney’s office. Porter did play in Toronto’s Jan. 26 game against the LA Clippers, recording three rebounds, one assist and zero points in 4:24 of playing time.
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Before the March 20 game, Pham and his co-conspirators discussed in a group chat that Player 1 would remove himself early from the game, claiming that he felt ill, according to the attorney’s office.
They agreed to share the profits won on successful under bets placed on Player 1, and agreed Pham would receive approximately 24 percent of the profits, per the attorney’s office.
On March 20, 2024, Pham and his co-conspirators placed bets on Player 1 at a casino in Atlantic City, N.J. That day, Player 1 removed himself from the game after complaining of feeling ill and recorded only three rebounds in three minutes of playing time, according to the attorney’s office.
Pham and the co-conspirators won prop bets related to Player 1’s performance and netted over $1 million in profits, per the attorney’s office.
According to the results of the NBA’s investigation, Porter gave a confidential tip about his health to a person he knew to be a sports bettor before the Raptors’ game on March 20 against the Sacramento Kings. A third individual, connected to both Porter and the original recipient of Porter’s health information, placed an $80,000 parlay bet to win $1.1 million, a wager that hinged on the prediction that Porter would underperform against the Kings.
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Timeline of Jontay Porter's NBA career and gambling investigation that led to ban
To make sure that the bet hit, the league found, Porter pulled himself out of that Sacramento game after just three minutes, claiming he was ill.
Additionally, the NBA’s investigation showed from January through March, while splitting games between Toronto and its G League affiliate, Raptors 905, Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s online betting account.
Although none of those bets were on games in which Porter played, he did bet on the Raptors to lose as part of a parlay bet. The wagers ranged in size from $15 to $22,000 and totaled $54,000. Porter netted nearly $22,000 in winnings on the bets, the league said.
Required reading
- NBA bars Jontay Porter for betting, league’s first gambling ban for player in 70 years
- Timeline of Jontay Porter’s NBA career and gambling investigation that led to ban
- NBA’s banishment of Jontay Porter is about money and perception, not morality
(Photo: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)