Associated Press, ESPN

NEW YORK — Two more men were charged Thursday in the sports betting scandal that prompted the NBA to ban former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter for life.

Timothy McCormack and Mahmud Mollah now join two other men — Long Phi Pham and a fourth whose name remains redacted in a court complaint — as defendants in a federal wire fraud case about wagers allegedly based on tips from a player about his plans to exit two games early.

Prosecutors haven’t publicly named Porter in connection with the case, but game dates and other details about the “Player 1” mentioned in the court documents match up with Porter and his April banishment from the NBA. Brooklyn federal prosecutors have declined to comment on whether the former forward is under investigation.

Current contact information could not immediately be found for Porter or any agent or other representative he may have.

An NBA investigation found in April that he tipped off bettors about his health and then claimed illness to exit at least one game and make some wagers succeed. Porter also gambled on NBA games in which he didn’t play, once betting against his own team, the league said.

Prosecutors say McCormack, Mollah, Pham and the as-yet-unknown fourth defendant took part in a scheme to get “Player 1” to take himself off the court so that they could win bets against his performance.

And win they did, with Mollah’s bets on a March 20 game netting over $1.3 million, according to the complaint. It said Pham, the player and the unnamed defendant were each supposed to get about a quarter of those winnings, and McCormack a 4% cut, before a betting company got suspicious and blocked Mollah from collecting most of the money.

McCormack also cleared more than $33,000 on a bet on a Jan. 26 game, the complaint said.

His attorney, Jeffrey Chartier, said Thursday that “no case is a slam-dunk.” He declined to comment on whether his client knows Porter.

Lawyers for Mollah and Pham have declined to comment on the allegations.

McCormack, 36, of New York, and Mollah, 24, of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, were granted $50,000 bond each after their arraignments Thursday. A judge agreed Wednesday to release Pham to home detention and electronic monitoring on $750,000 bond. The 38-year-old Brooklyn resident, who also uses the first name Bruce, remained in custody Thursday as paperwork and other details were finalized.

According to the complaint, “Player 1” amassed significant gambling debts by the beginning of 2024, and the unnamed defendant prodded him to clear his obligations by doing a “special” — their code for leaving certain games early to ensure the success of bets that he’d underperform expectations.

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Rustin Dodd, Stephen J. Nesbitt, and Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times

When Major League Baseball announced a lifetime ban for San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano on Tuesday, the particulars of his wrongdoing were laid out in specific detail: 387 bets placed at legal sportsbooks, 231 wagers related to MLB and 25 on the Pittsburgh Pirates, his employer at the time. He allegedly bet more than $150,000 on baseball.

Marcano was not a particularly savvy bettor; according to MLB, he won just 4.3 percent of his wagers, most of them parlays. But the copious facts released by the league on Tuesday —  the same day Ippei Mizuhara, Shohei Ohtani’s ex-interpreter, pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud — underscore a recurring theme as the sports world grapples with more blowback from the precipitous rise of legalized gambling in the United States.

In a majority of states, it’s never been easier to place a bet. But in a world of legal online sportsbooks and smartphones, it’s also never been easier for leagues to track the betting and, as they see it, protect the competitive integrity of the sport. In addition to Marcano’s lifetime ban, MLB announced year-long suspensions for Oakland A’s pitcher Michael Kelly and three minor leaguers — the Padres’ Jay Groome, the Philadelphia Phillies’ José Rodríguez and the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Andrew Saalfrank. All four were found to have placed bets on MLB while in the minors.

The announcement came, according to MLB, after an investigation that included interviews and cooperation from the league’s sportsbook partners, a process that offers a window into the monitoring system in place at legal sportsbooks. That system includes outside firms like U.S. Integrity, a monitoring service that works with major sports leagues and sportsbooks.

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Aaron Katersky, ESPN

ABrooklyn man was charged Tuesday in connection with an alleged illegal sports betting scheme involving Jontay Porter, the former Toronto Raptors player who was banned from the NBA after he bet on his own team to lose.

After allegedly amassing large gambling debts to co-conspirators in the alleged scheme, Porter, called “Player 1” in the court complaint, was encouraged to clear those debts by withdrawing from certain games prematurely to make sure bets on his performance were successful.

According to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, Long Phi “Bruce” Pham, knowing that Porter planned to withdraw from the game, placed bets on Porter’s performance for the Raptors’ matchup against the LA Clippers on Jan. 26.

Shortly before that game, prosecutors said Porter told Pham he would exit early in the contest, claiming he was injured. As a result, a co-conspirator won $40,250.

Pham, 38, was arrested at JFK Airport in New York on Monday as he tried to board a flight to Australia on a one-way ticket, according to the criminal complaint. He was ordered detained Tuesday pending trial on a charge of conspiring to defraud a sports betting company.

Three unnamed co-conspirators charged in the scheme remain at large. It’s unclear whether Porter, 24, is under investigation in the criminal case.

Pham and his co-conspirators netted over $1 million in profits overall, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

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Erich Richter, New York Post

“The fix is in” is oftentimes a joke, but recently it seems like that’s been more of a reality than humor.

Gambling scandals have always been an ugly black eye in sports, dating back to the early 20th century with the infamous Black Sox.

And it likely dates back longer than that.

Fixing sports for profit is something that has likely been happening for centuries, including when the Gladiators battled in the Colosseum.

You’ll notice that a lot of this happened in the underground market, with legal online sports betting making it substantially easier to catch those looking to put down big money on a game they control.

But like anything, the widespread availability has also made it easier to find out who is attempting to make a quick buck while compromising the league.

Here’s a look back at major sports betting controversies.

Major sports betting controversies

Arnold Rothstein fixes the 1919 World Series with help from eight White Sox players

We’ll start with organized crime figure Arnold Rothstein and the 1919 White Sox, who threw the World Series.

Rothstein led a gambling syndicate in the early 1900s. He was able to compromise players by promising to pay the White Sox players once they had successfully lost the World Series.

Court records show that each player was given between $70,000-$100,000 to lose the World Series to the Reds that year.

Rothstein was never officially convicted of the crime.

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Fox Sports

The former interpreter for Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani pleaded guilty to bank and tax fraud on Tuesday and admitted to stealing nearly $17 million from the Japanese baseball player to pay off sports betting debts.

Ippei Mizuhara’s crimes stunned the baseball world, shattering his image as Ohtani’s shadow at ballparks around the U.S. He entered his guilty plea Tuesday in federal court in Santa Ana, California.

The ex-interpreter had exploited his personal and professional relationship with Ohtani to plunder millions from the two-way player’s account for years, at times impersonating Ohtani to bankers. Mizuhara signed a plea agreement that detailed the allegations on May 5, and prosecutors announced it several days later.

Mizuhara’s attorney declined to comment outside the courthouse. Mizuhara spoke briefly in court acknowledging his guilt. “I worked for victim A and had access to his bank account and had fallen into major gambling debt,” he told the court. “I went ahead and wired money … with his bank account.”

Federal prosecutors declined to comment outside the courthouse.

Tuesday’s court hearing lasted approximately 45 minutes.

Mizuhara’s winning bets totaled over $142 million, which he deposited in his own bank account and not Ohtani’s. But his losing bets were around $183 million, a net loss of nearly $41 million. He did not wager on baseball.

Mizuhara pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. The bank fraud charge carries a maximum of 30 years in federal prison, and the false tax return charge carries a sentence of up to three years in federal prison. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25.

He also is required to pay Ohtani restitution that could total nearly $17 million, as well as more than $1 million to the IRS. Those amounts, however, could change prior to sentencing.

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Jeff Passan, ESPN

San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano is facing a potential lifetime ban for betting on baseball after Major League Baseball received information that he wagered on games involving the Pittsburgh Pirates when he was with the team last season, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday.

Marcano, 24, has yet to be formally penalized, but MLB Rule 21 explicitly states that a player who bets on games involving his own team is subject to a lifetime ban. Marcano tore an ACL last year and was on the injured list when he allegedly placed the bets, which were flagged by a sportsbook and reported to the league, according to sources.

The potential ban of Marcano comes in the wake of the NBA handing down a ban to Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter for disclosing confidential information to bettors, limiting his participation in at least one game and betting on NBA games while playing in the G League.

Four other minor league players are facing potential discipline for betting as well, sources told ESPN. Even if a player in the minor leagues is on a team’s 40-man roster, he would face a one-year suspension for betting on major league games, according to Rule 21.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the looming discipline for all five players.

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Jared Diamond and Lindsey Adler, Wall Street Journal

Major League Baseball has banned San Diego Padres infielder Tucupita Marcano for life—and suspended four other players for one year—for violating the sport’s gambling policy. 

Marcano is believed to be the first active player to be kicked out of baseball for betting since Jimmy O’Connell of the New York Giants in 1924. He is also the most prominent person to be permanently banned for wagering on baseball since all-time hits leader Pete Rose accepted his lifetime banishment while he was a manager in 1989.

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Doug Greenberg, ESPN

GIVEN THE IMMEDIATE cultural acceptance, rapid adoption in media and near ubiquity of advertisements, it’s hard to believe that American legal sports betting is only six years old.

Almost as soon as the floodgates opened, the United States proved to be an ideal breeding ground for the industry. Between major professional sports leagues and college sports programs, it makes sense that a large chunk of a highly competitive nation’s over 330 million citizens would be intrigued by wagering on sports.

Perhaps the excitement is a result of its unavailability for so long, but American sports betting owes much of its current climate to several hundred years of development across the pond.

“America managed to do 200 years of history in six years,” London-based betting industry veteran Matthew Trenhaile told ESPN.

In the United Kingdom, which hosts Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final between Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid at London’s Wembley Stadium, sports betting was never truly illegal and has, therefore, always been a part of the sporting culture.

As Europe gears up for its biggest sports betting event of the year — the continent’s equivalent of the Super Bowl — it’s easy to see what the United States’ sports betting industry can learn from Europe amidst its own growing pains.

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ESPN

West Ham midfielder Lucas Paquetá has been charged by England’s Football Association (FA) with breaches of betting rules.

The FA charges state that Paquetá tried to “influence the progress, conduct, or any other aspect of, or occurrence in these matches by intentionally seeking to receive a card from the referee for the improper purpose of affecting the betting market in order for one or more persons to profit from betting.”

The FA statement said the breaches relate to three matches from the 2022-23 season, his first in the Premier League with the east London club, and the opening fixture of the 2023-24 campaign.

The games came against Leicester City on Nov. 12, 2022; Aston Villa on March 12, 2023; Leeds United on May 21, 2023; and AFC Bournemouth on Aug. 12, 2023.

Paquetá denied the charges in an Instagram post.

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Jason Quick (The Athletic) May 20, 2024

When he was a cocksure 25-year-old, on the fast track to officiating big-time college basketball, Scott Foster was summoned for a sit-down with his dad.

They met at a bar, and his father, Dickie, brought along a family friend with experience in high-level sports. They were concerned about Foster, who was mulling a daring career move. It was 1992, and he had been offered a job in the Continental Basketball Association, then a training ground for the NBA, making $95 a game. But to do so, he would have to forgo his schedule — and career path — of officiating Division I games, which at the time were paying him $250 a game. His dad and friend couldn’t see the logic of accepting less money, less exposure and less stability.

 

His dad’s word carried a lot of weight, not just with Foster, but all around Maryland’s Montgomery County. Dickie Foster was a decorated assistant fire chief, an accomplished softball player and the pulse of the frequent parties at the Foster house. As people splashed in their pool, and his dad grilled meats, Foster says he can remember being cornered by firefighters passionately telling him stories about his dad’s heroics, his dad’s leadership and how much his dad meant to them.

“The only job cooler than a firefighter in my neighborhood growing up was Major League Baseball player,” Foster said. “So he was a big deal.”

But on this day at the bar, as his dad addressed Foster’s new job offer, Dickie Foster used words like “pipe dream” and “one-in-a-million” and “few-and-far between.” Foster remembers his dad’s final words on the matter: “Not everyone can be Michael Jordan.”

“But …” Foster remembers telling his dad, “what if I am the Michael Jordan of officiating?”

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For more on Scott Foster and Tim Donaghy see here.

For evidence-based analyses of Tim Donaghy’s claims, see here.

Of course, for a full examination of Foster, Donaghy, and the betting scandal, see Gaming the Game: The Story Behind the NBA Betting Scandal and the Gambler Who Made It Happen.