Mollah, of Lansdale, right, in a selfie taken at a casino restaurant on March 20, 2024.
A Lansdale man has been accused by federal authorities of wire fraud and conspiring with former Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter in the recent NBA betting and DraftKings sportsbook profit sharing scandal, according to Play Pennsylvania.
Mahmud Mollah was charged along with Timothy McCormack, of New York, and Long Phi “Bruce” Pham, of Brooklyn, on Thursday by the U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, following an investigation by the FBI, according to court documents. A fourth defendant remains unidentified and their name is blacked out in court documents, per the criminal complaint.
At an Atlantic City casino, Mollah, authorities allege, placed wagers at a DraftKings sportsbook involving Porter on the March 20, 2024 game, including an $80,000 parlay bet, fraudulently winning more than $1.2 million.
According to the report, Mollah is seen on video surveillance meeting with Pham and McCormack.
In the complaint, “Betting Company 1” alleges fraud and has been identified as DraftKings by ESPN.
According to police, Mollah and his alleged co-conspirators conspired to place under prop bets on Porter’s Jan. 26, 2024 and March 20 games, but Mollah only took part in the March 20 scheme.
According to the complaint, Porter told Mollah, Pham and McCormack that he would drop out of the game, due to their alleged profit sharing agreement. Then, Porter indeed left both games early due to illness or injury. According to Play PA, this raised red flags to NBA fans and the sports betting fanbase.
Thus, the prop bets became successful, authorities allege.
On April 4, 2024, weeks after the alleged March 20 scheme, Porter texted Mollah, Pham and the unidentified individual that they “might get hit w a rico” and asked the group to “delete all the stuff,” according to the complaint.
On April 10, authorities allege Porter texted Mollah, “I really need you to hound DraftKings. At least get me back my principle $.”
According to the affidavit, on March 20, Mollah placed his first bet at 7:24 p.m. after first depositing $66,900 in cash into a DraftKings account, which was caught on camera.
Due to Porter’s performance being under designated amounts set by DraftKings in prop bets, several bettors, per the complaint, who wagered under on the prop bets won big, including Mollah, several times over:
Mollah wagered $10,000 on the under for assists. The bet was successful and Mollah won $42,000 (net profit $32,000), per the affidavit.
Mollah placed an $80,000 parlay on the under for assists, rebounds, points, three pointers, steals and blocks. The bet was successful and Mollah won $1.12 million (net profit $1.04 million), according to the complaint.
Mollah placed three separate $500 parlay bets on the under for assists, rebounds, points, three pointers, steals and blocks. The bets were successful and Mollah won $21,500 (net profit $20,000), per the affidavit.
Mollah placed a $9,400 parlay bet on the under for blocks, points, and assists. The bet was successful and Mollah won $44,650 (net profit $35,250), per the affidavit.
Mollah placed two separate $500 parlay bets on the under for assists, rebounds, points and blocks. The bets were successful and Mollah won $5,375 (net profit $4,375), per the affidavit.
On March 17, 2024, federal authorities allege Porter “played one of his best games of the season, playing 20 minutes and recording seven rebounds (tied for his highest rebounding output of the 2023-2024 NBA season).” Then, per the complaint, Porter told family and friends he had food poisoning in the days that followed, and still played the March 20 game.
Porter would go on to play just three minutes, with no points, no assists and two rebounds, before leaving for feeling ill, per the complaint. Porter would play the next game two days later.
Authorities allege that prior to that March 20 game, Mollah, Pham, Porter and a fourth individual had a Telegram group chat, where Porter told Mollah and Pham he would be removing himself from the game early, claiming illness. The chat also included a profit-sharing agreement for money won on successful under bets, police allege.
Mollah would received 24% of profits, as would Pham and Porter and the fourth unidentified individual, but McCormack would only get 4%, per the complaint. On March 20, the four individuals, minus Porter, met at the casino to bet on Porter, according to the complaint.
Authorities found selfies of Mollah and his colleagues at the casino restaurant on March 20 on several co-conspirators’ iPhones, authorities allege in the complaint.
Due to the suspicious wagers, DraftKings suspended Mollah’s account after he placed the March 20 bets and before he could withdraw most of the money, according to the affidavit.
DraftKings notified the International Betting Integrity Association of the suspicious wagers, who then notified the FBI. Furthermore, DraftKings also reported the suspicious coincidence to the NBA, which then opened an investigation into Porter, authorities allege.
Authorities used evidence obtained through cellular phone records, betting records from DraftKings, surveillance footage from the casino, and Venmo, PayPal, Zelle and Apple Cash transaction records, per the complaint.
On May 31, authorities allege Pham booked a one-way ticket to Australia, but was apprehended on June 3 at JFK International Airport about to board a flight. Pham was found to be in possession of $12,000 cash, two cashier’s checks totaling $80,000, numerous betting slips, and three cell phones, according to the complaint.
According to the Associated Press, Mollah posted $50,000 bond following arraignment.
