Disgraced ex-Raptors player admits to rigging games: "I'm deeply sorry"

Former Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has confessed to informing gamblers about NBA games he planned to fix by leaving them with fake injuries.

According to a Wednesday report from the New York Post, the disgraced ex-Raptors centre, who was banned from the NBA for life due to sports betting, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the large-scale gambling scandal.

He entered the plea at his arraignment in a New York federal court and was set to be released on a bond of $250,000.

“I know what I did was wrong and unlawful, and I’m deeply sorry,” the 24-year-old told a Brooklyn federal judge on Wednesday.

Porter, who claimed to be dealing with large gambling debts, is now the fifth individual implicated in the scandal to encounter legal consequences.

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In early June, authorities arrested Long Phi Pham at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Australia. Pham allegedly collaborated with the former Raptors player to place bets on games they planned to manipulate. Gamblers Timothy McCormack, Mahmud Mollah, and Ammar Awawdeh were apprehended the following day, all facing wire fraud charges connected to the incident.

According to the NBA’s release read at the time of his banishment back in April, “Porter placed at least 13 bets on NBA games using an associate’s online betting account.”

Expected to pay approximately $456,000 in fines and restitution, Porter’s sentencing is slated for December 18, where he could receive a prison term ranging from just under three and a half years to slightly over four years. He is also anticipated to be ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution in addition to potential fines.

Drafted by Toronto in 2019, Porter played 26 games for the Raptors this past season before the ban.