(New York) Former NBA player Jontay Porter, banned from the North American professional basketball league for fixing sports bets, will be indicted in New York, according to a document released Wednesday by the Brooklyn prosecutor’s office.
The document does not specify the charges against him but indicates that they are a felony and not a misdemeanor, which suggests that the sentence he faces is significant.
A spokesman for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace told AFP that Porter would plead guilty at a hearing set for July 10, without specifying the charge or charges.
Four people have already been charged in the case. They are accused of collaborating with Jontay Porter to ensure the outcome of several bets on the player, who was then playing for the Toronto Raptors.
The defendants allegedly bet on his playing time, knowing in advance that he would ask to leave the field for health reasons, which allowed them to pocket a total of more than a million dollars.
Alerted by betting shops, the FBI analyzed messages and money movements between punters on their cell phones.
In April, the NBA decided to ban undrafted player Jontay Porter for life after playing just 37 games in the 2020-21 and 2023-24 seasons.
Although he had a modest trajectory in the NBA, the player earned more than two million dollars with the Memphis Grizzlies and the Toronto Raptors.
Aged 24, Jontay Porter is the younger brother of Michael Porter Jr., a major player for the Denver Nuggets, with whom he was crowned NBA champion in 2023.
A majority of U.S. states have legalized sports betting since a Supreme Court ruling in 2018.