Federal prosecutors and the FBI have arrested and charged a man with allegedly placing bets and coordinating his betting with former NBA player Jontay Porter, who was expelled from the league earlier this year, according to NBA league records and a criminal complaint filed by prosecutors in Brooklyn.
Long Phi Pham, also known as “Bruce,” a 38-year-old from Brooklyn, was arrested on Monday at JFK airport.
He allegedly booked a one-way ticket to Australia just a day after federal investigators attempted to interview him.
Pham was in federal court this afternoon, where he was ordered detained, facing charges of wire fraud.
Three other individuals allegedly involved in the scheme remain at large, according to federal prosecutors.
RELATED: Sources Reveal Jontay Porter Operated Betting Account, Wagered Millions Over Multiple Years
The criminal complaint against Pham does not name the NBA player explicitly but describes a player who only played 4 minutes on January 22, recording three rebounds and one assist.
These statistics match Porter’s performance on that date.
The complaint also mentions the player’s claimed eye injury, which aligns with Porter’s situation.
Furthermore, the description of the NBA player banned and the reason for their ban matches Porter.
Porter has not been charged in this complaint but has been permanently banned by the NBA.
The charging documents state that Porter “had amassed significant gambling debts” to Pham and others.
One individual still at large allegedly encouraged Porter to clear his debts by “withdrawing from certain games prematurely to ensure that under prop bets on [Porter’s] performance were successful.”
The complaint states, “Video footage of the January 26 game neither shows any contact with Player 1’s eyes nor any apparent reaggravation of the eye injury,” adding that Porter “did not subsequently complain to team officials about the purported eye injury after the January 26 game and played in his team’s next game two days later.”
The defendants allegedly placed bets on the game, netting them profits of over $100,000.
The scheme reportedly occurred again in March of this year when Pham and the others met at an unnamed casino in Atlantic City to place bets on Porter.
According to the documents, Porter had informed them via Telegram that he would remove himself from the game on March 20 early, citing illness.
Surveillance photos in the complaint allegedly show the defendants at the casino.
The documents also state that Porter would receive a percentage of the profits for participating in the scheme.
When Pham was arrested at JFK, the FBI reported he had “approximately $12,000 in cash; two cashier’s checks totaling $80,000; a series of betting slips; and three cellular phones.”
If convicted, Pham faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail.
