Porter Pleads Guilty in Case Over Betting Scandal

In the scandal that rocked the NBA community and already gotten him banned from the league for life, disgraced former player Jontay Porter, younger brother of the Denver Nuggets Michael Porter Jr., pleaded guilty Wednesday to wire fraud conspiracy and was released on a $250,000 bond, according to a spokesperson with the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, in a case stemming from an alleged betting scandal.

“Estimated sentencing guidelines are 41-51 months, max sentence for wire fraud conspiracy is 20 years,” the spokesperson told CNN in an email. Porter’s bond was signed for by his wife and mother, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson confirmed Porter’s guilty plea was connected to a gambling case in which four other individuals have also been connected to. A federal complaint filed in June against one of those defendants accused him of conspiring with three others to defraud a sports betting company by using inside information from an NBA player to successfully bet on the performance of said player.

“I know what I did was wrong, unlawful, and I am deeply sorry,” the former Toronto Raptors big man said as he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

That complaint referred to the player as “Player 1,” but CNN determined at the time that the player is Porter, who played for the Raptors prior to being banned from the NBA in April by commissioner Adam Silver for violating the league’s gambling rules.

Jeff Jensen, an attorney for Porter, said, “I have nothing to add to my previous comments about the case.” Jensen has not previously responded to CNN’s requests for comment.

Porter and his lawyer left court without speaking to reporters. The attorney, Jensen, later declined by email to comment beyond a statement he made last month, in which he said Porter “was in over his head due to a gambling addiction.”

“Jontay is a good young man with strong faith that will get him through this,” Jensen said at the time.

Porter is expected to be sentenced on December 18, according to the Eastern District of New York.