The New York District Attorney's Office filed criminal charges Tuesday alleging that Ron Phi Pham conspired with others to defraud sports betting companies by placing under-stakes bets on players on NBA games on Jan. 26 and March 20.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York released the documents, filed in Brooklyn federal court, and said authorities arrested Pham on Monday.
Pham appeared in court Tuesday afternoon, where a judge ordered him detained until trial. The three co-conspirators charged in the scheme remain at large, the district attorney's office said in a statement.
According to the district attorney's office, in early 2024, an NBA player whom the district attorney's office referred to as Player 1, but did not name, owed large gambling debts to “certain co-conspirators” and was encouraged to leave certain games early to ensure he would win prop bets that were placed on his performance.
While Player 1 was not named, details in the district attorney's filing echo findings from the NBA's investigation into Jontay Porter, a former member of the Toronto Raptors who was banned from the league in April for betting on NBA games and sharing inside information.
According to the league, Porter, who played in both the NBA and G League, told sports bettors he had a personal injury and then left games to control prop bets on his own play and bet on NBA games.
According to the District Attorney's Office, Player 1 suffered an eye injury in a game on January 22, 2024, which caused him to leave the game early but he was not placed on the NBA injured list. Prior to the January 26 game, Player 1 informed Pham that he would be leaving the game early due to his injury.
On that day, Player 1 entered the game midway through the first quarter and recorded three rebounds and one assist in four minutes of playing time. Player 1 left the game after complaining to team officials that his eye injury had recurred.
According to the District Attorney's Office, Player 1's performance in several statistical categories in the January 26 game was below the amounts set by the betting companies for prop bets related to that player. Porter appeared in Toronto's January 26 game against the Los Angeles Clippers, recording 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 0 points in 4 minutes, 24 seconds of playing time.
According to the district attorney's office, before the game on March 20, Pham and a co-conspirator discussed in a group chat that Player 1 would leave the game early, claiming to be feeling unwell.
They agreed to split the profits from successful under bets on Player 1, with Pham receiving about 24 percent of the profits, according to the district attorney's office.
On March 20, 2024, Pham and co-conspirators bet with Player 1 at a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. According to the District Attorney's Office, that day, Player 1 left the game complaining of feeling unwell and recorded only three rebounds in three minutes of playing time.
According to the District Attorney's Office, Pham and his co-conspirators won more than $1 million in prop bets tied to Player 1's performance.
According to the NBA's investigation, Porter provided confidential health information about himself to an individual he knew was engaging in sports betting prior to the Raptors' game against the Sacramento Kings on March 20. A third individual with ties to both Porter and the individual who initially received Porter's health information won $1.1 million on an $80,000 parlay bet that was based on the expectation that Porter would underperform against the Kings.
Going deeper
A timeline of Jontay Porter's NBA career and the gambling investigation that led to his suspension
According to a league investigation, to ensure the bets would win, Porter left the game just three minutes into the game against Sacramento, citing illness.
Additionally, the NBA investigation found that Porter, who split games between Toronto and its G League affiliate, the Raptors 905, used an associate's online betting account to place at least 13 bets on NBA games between January and March.
None of the bets involved games in which Porter played, but they were on the Raptors losing as part of parlays. The bets ranged from $15 to $22,000, totaling $54,000. Porter won about $22,000 on the bets, according to the league.
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(Photo by Isaiah J. Downing/USA Today)
