The man prosecutors said coordinated with disgraced former NBA player Jontay Porter to alter his performance in at least two NBA games in order to profit has been arrested.
Porter is alleged by prosecutors to have run up a substantial gambling debt to Long Phi Pham, 38, and his co-conspirators. In order to remove himself from the debt, prosecutors said, Porter was encouraged to pull himself during games in which the conspirators had large wagers on his unders.
Pham was arrested on Monday when he was trying to board a flight to Australia on a one-way ticket. Three other co-conspirators remain at large, prosecutors said.
Porter was banned from the NBA for life in April after he prematurely withdrew from at least two NBA games so that totals on his performance went under, the league said in its investigation.
In a January game against the Clippers, Porter informed Pham and others that he intended on feigning an injury to remove himself from a game early. A co-conspirator profited $40,250 by betting on his unders, prosecutors said.
Later, in a March game against the Kings, Porter informed a group of bettors about his health status. This group of bettors then placed an $80,000 parlay to win $1.1 million on Porter to underperform several different prop bets in the same game.
Porter went on to play just three minutes before reporting an illness and leaving the game vs. the Kings. The $80,000 same game parlay was frozen and not paid out amid this irregular activity, which prompted the investigation that eventually ousted Porter.
The day before Porter's banning, the Action Network reported that he operated a FanDuel VIP account that wagered several million dollars from 2021 to 2023.
In April, Porter sent in a group chat with conspirators that they "might just get hit w a rico," referring to the RICO Act, a law that targets organized crime. Porter also asked if the members of the chat "delete[d] all the stuff" from their cell phones, according to prosecutors.
