Additional charges brought in Jontay Porter case

The NBA’s decision to ban Jontay Porter for life has resulted in the prosecution of multiple individuals who were reportedly pressuring Porter to leave games early. Long Phi “Bruce” Pham, Timothy McCormack, and Mahmud Mollah are facing criminal charges in connection to this scandal, as reported by David Payne Purdum of ESPN.com.

Mollah is accused of placing an $80,000 bet on Porter not achieving certain stats, such as assists, rebounds, points, three-pointers, steals, and blocks during a game against the Sacramento Kings on March 20. Porter left the game early, and Mollah ended up winning $1.12 million. The defendants are alleged to have influenced Porter to exit games prematurely to settle gambling debts.

While it may be challenging for one player to impact the outcome of bets on his team, player prop bets provide an opportunity to manipulate the system. Faking an illness or injury, and failing to meet certain statistics can result in a payout for individuals betting the under. This scandal involving Porter and the defendants is not something that has been seen in the NFL, at least not thus far. However, if such a scandal were to occur in the NFL, it has the potential to cause significant upheaval within the league.