Federal Charges Pending for Banned NBA Player Jontay Porter in Gambling Case, Court Documents Say

Prosecutors are preparing to file federal charges against Jontay Porter, a banned NBA player, in connection to an alleged sports betting scheme, according to court filings. The specific felony charges against Porter have not been mentioned in the court records, CNN US reported.

The case is connected to four recently arrested individuals, as confirmed by John Marzulli, spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. The NBA had banned Porter, who played for the Toronto Raptors, in April for violating the league's gambling rules.

Jeff Jensen, an attorney representing Porter, has not immediately responded to a request for comment. It was reported in June that Long Phi Pham, a Brooklyn resident, was charged with conspiring with three others to defraud a sports betting company by placing wagers on an NBA player, later identified as Porter, who would be sidelined from games due to illness or injury, according to a federal complaint.

The court documents indicate a connection between Porter's criminal case and Pham's case, as well as the cases against Ammar Awawdeh, Timothy McCormack, and Mahmud Mollah. The latter three individuals had not been previously publicly named in the federal complaint. All four defendants have waived their preliminary hearings, as stated in the court filings.

CNN has reached out to the attorneys representing Pham, Awawdeh, and Mollah for comment. No attorney is listed for McCormack in the court filings. Porter, aged 24, played in parts of two NBA seasons with an average of 3.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 37 games.

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