Jontay Porter appears to have been texting bettors in the middle of games he was playing in, according to a court excerpt that was released this week.
The disgraced former Toronto Raptors forward Porter was the subject of a new filing by the federal government in his fraud case. The filing, which was obtained by Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, alleges that Porter, as part of his involvement in an illegal sports betting scheme, texted a co-conspirator in the middle of a Raptors game on Jan. 22, 2024 against Memphis to provide inside information as to his status.
“I went back to locker room to get eye checked on,” the alleged text from Porter, who started in that game, read. “Idk if imma play much more.”
“I’m not starting second half,” another text allegedly said. “But if it’s garbage time I will shoot a million shots.”
Here is a screenshot of the court filing that was posted by Vorkunov on X.
New filings by the federal government reveal that Porter was texting an alleged co-conspirator DURING a Raptors game to keep him updated on his status that day. That game is different than the two the NBA and feds identified before and said he manipulated his performance during. https://t.co/Y2vKnxEbho pic.twitter.com/3zVyKvYQlw
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) January 13, 2025
Vorkunov also notes that another person, Shane Hennen, has been arrested this week in connection with the sports betting scheme and is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors allege that Hennen was a co-conspirator in the scheme and received a screenshot the next day of the aforementioned texts from Porter, which were originally sent to a different person.
Hennen then supposedly proceeded to wager over $6,000 on Porter’s under props for two other games (on Jan. 26, 2024 against the LA Clippers and on March 20, 2024 against Sacramento) after receiving information that Porter planned to pull himself early from both of those games due to injury.
“Hit unders for the big numbers,” another alleged text from Porter to Hennen and a different co-conspirator read (before the Jan. 26 game). “I told [Co-Conspirator 2] no blocks no steals. I’m going to play [the] first 2-3 minute stint off the bench then when I get subbed out tell them my eye [is] killing me again.”
You can read Vorkunov’s full report on the situation here.
The 25-year-old Porter was banned from the NBA for life last April after league officials were alerted to irregularities with some prop bets on Porter, leading to his involvement in the alleged betting scheme being uncovered. Porter wasn’t only providing confidential information to bettors either but also placing bets of his own (including committing the one cardinal sin of sports betting).
After a federal criminal case against Porter then ensued, he revealed that his supposed motivation was to get rid of a big gambling debt he had incurred. Porter pled guilty last summer to conspiracy to commit wire fraud (which is a federal felony) and was supposed to be sentenced last month but has since had his sentencing date pushed back to May 2025. A recent report revealed a realistic estimate for how just much prison time Porter could be getting.
