Former Raptor Porter to be sentenced Wednesday
Global News
An expert in gaming law expects former Toronto Raptors centre Jontay Porter will be sentenced to at least a prison term and face other punishments.
TORONTO – An expert in gaming law expects former Toronto Raptors centre Jontay Porter will be sentenced to at least a prison term and face other punishments.
Porter’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Wednesday at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on July 10 after admitting to competitive manipulation in two NBA games.
Peter Czegledy, a partner at Aird and Berlis who chairs the Toronto law firm’s gaming group, said that although Porter has apparently co-operated with U.S. authorities, he expects the former NBA player will still be severely punished.
“This is a high-profile case, involving premeditated and repeat misconduct over a period of time by a public individual who should be acting as a role model, so that will not be in his favour,” said Czegledy, who does not practice law in the U.S. “A gambling addiction appears to have been cited as a mitigating factor by the defence, which seemingly would assist Mr. Porter.
“I would expect that the court will be very careful in its deliberations — and that the sentence will combine both a prison term and significant financial restitution.”
Czegledy noted that the 25-year-old Porter’s gambling addiction would have limited value to his defence if he was tried in Canada. A 1996 Court of Appeal decision explicitly decided that an accused’s addiction or obsession with gambling should not be considered a mitigating factor warranting a lesser sentence.
Porter was injured to start the 2023-24 NBA season, but saw more playing time last January when Raptors starting centre Jakob Poeltl was out, recovering from an injured ankle.
That increased time on the court put Porter in a position to manipulate the betting market, feigning injury or illness to remove himself from games on Jan. 26 and March 20. He played fewer than five minutes and scored no points in both of them.
