As part of a sports betting system that has attracted widespread interest, prosecutors alleged on Tuesday that a high-rolling gambler and a former NBA player, most likely Jontay Porter, conspired with one of the players who played for the Toronto Raptors to setup two games this season.
Much Phi Pham, 38, a player who was hailed as one of the best 1 % poker players in the world, was charged by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn with conspiring to defraud in connection with the program.
Although Porter is not named in the complaint against Pham, a number of details revealed in the court filing suggest that he was the NBA player recruited into the system, with prosecutors also quoting the NBA’s press release from April 17 that announced Porter’s lifetime ban.
According to the complaint against Pham,” Player 1″ amassed” important playing debts” with various members of the crime and consented to keep two games earlier so that gamblers with bets on his performance could win big, according to the feds.
On Jan. 22,” Player 1″ suffered a alleged eye injuries during a match, and got a treatment for a corneal scratching— but he was n’t placed on the NBA’s damage list, the government allege.
He told Pham that he’d been he pulling himself from the group’s Jan. 26 match against the L. A. Clippers, which he did, after playing only four hours and scoring zero items, three touchdowns and an help, prosecutors said.
He told team officials he had reaggravated the eye injury, and as a result, one co- conspirator won$ 40, 250 off a$ 7, 000 bet, while the relative of a co- conspirator got$ 85, 000 from a$ 10, 000 bet, according to the feds.
Player 1 also left a March 20 game after just three minutes, which Pham and his cohorts learned about in advance, the feds allege. They planned their bets in a Telegram group chat, with Pham getting 24 % of the proceeds, and in all, they made more than$ 1 million in” under prop” bets,” the feds allege.
The accusations made against Player 1 follow Porter’s statements from the NBA. After the March 20 game, the NBA opened an investigation into Porter and determined that he “broke league rules” by disclosing private information to sports bettors, restricting his own participation in one or more games for betting purposes, and betting on NBA games, according to the league’s statement from April 17.
On April 4, Player 1 had warned his co- conspirators they” might just get hit w a rico,” the feds allege.
Porter is the second NBA player to have been suspended since Adam Silver, who was appointed commissioner in 2014, came to the league. After audiotapes revealed him making racist remarks, Donald Sterling, a former Los Angeles Clippers owner, received the second.
He’s not charged in the conspiracy.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Weintraub testified at his arraignment on Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court that Pham had booked a one-way ticket to Australia the day after investigators had attempted to interview one of his co-conspirators. He was detained by law enforcement on Monday as he attempted to board his flight at the JFK Airport. He had about$ 12, 000 in cash, two cashier’s checks totaling$ 80, 000, a series of betting slips and three cell phones, according to the criminal complaint.
” Whether on the court or in the casino, every point matters. As alleged, the defendant and his co- conspirators, as well as an NBA player, participated in a brazen, illegal betting scheme that had a corrupting influence on two games and numerous bets,” U. S. Attorney Breon Peace said.
Pham, who wore a gray” Jordan” sweatshirt, denied having the cashier’s check at his arraignment, telling Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollack, after she warned him to let his lawyer do the talking”, I do n’t need to talk to my attorney. There’s no$ 80, 000 cashier’s check, and if there is, you can cuff me now.”
Weintraub pointed out that prosecutors had photos of the cashier’s checks.
Pham’s lawyer, Michael Soshnick, tried to get him released on a bond secured by his three sisters, but Weintraub objected, saying that one of the sisters is” potentially involved in a money laundering activity. Pham was also reported to have been a part of organized underground poker games.
Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollack rejected Pham’s bail application, though she allowed him to re- apply Wednesday with more appropriate suretors.
” You’ll note that that sister has never been charged with anything,” Soshnick said”. The government put my client’s family before the court as people who are involved in illegal activities, and I took offense. … These are all good people.”
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