Former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiracy to commit fraud in the gambling case that earned him a ban from the NBA and linked four other people to federal charges.
Porter made his plea to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn. He was released on $250,000 bail signed by his mother and wife, and his sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18. While federal conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, Porter likely faces 41 to 51 months in prison under sentencing guidelines.
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Timeline of Jontay Porter’s NBA career and gambling investigations by league and police
Porter was suspended by the NBA in April for his role in the sports betting scandal, in which he manipulated his performance and availability to allow others to underperform on prop bets against him during games on Jan. 26 and March 20, while he was still with the Raptors.
Porter is the first active player or coach to be dismissed from the NBA for gambling since Jack Molinas in 1954. NBA commissioner Adam Silver handed down a lengthy suspension to OJ Mayo for drug use in 2016, effectively banning him from the league. In 2014, he suspended LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling and forced him to sell the team over racial slurs.
The NBA also discovered in its own investigation that Porter bet on NBA games.
Porter was not named as a suspect in a case filed last month by federal prosecutors charging four men with conspiring to defraud a sports betting company. However, he was referred to as Player 1 in a complaint laying out the allegations against them.
Porter, according to the complaint, had large gambling debts and agreed to remove himself from the games early by claiming an injury or ailment so the men could win their bets with him. One man wagered $80,000 on a parlay of bets with Porter and won $1.1 million.
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(Photo: Alika Jenner/Getty Images)