Jontay Porter NBA Betting Conspiracy Sees Another Poker Player Arrested

Poker player Shane Hennen on Sunday became the sixth individual to be arrested for alleged involvement in the Jontay Porter insider betting case. Hennen was detained by police at Harry Reid International Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Colombia.

Hennen was carrying almost $10K in cash and several phones at the time of his arrest. He told police he was visiting the South American country for dental work.

Hennen is expected to be charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in connection to the Jontay Porter betting conspiracy.

Porter was banned for life by the NBA in April for leaking insider information to a New York-based gambling syndicate and deliberately underperforming during two games earlier in the year.

Betting the Under

US federal prosecutors claim the group bet the under on Porter in a January 26 game against the Los Angeles Clippers and in a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings, both losses for the Raptors. Porter told the group in advance that he would exit early from each game claiming injury, according to court documents.

The group would have won US$1,272,875 via DraftKings and FanDuel, but the lion’s share of those winnings was frozen by the operators when they detected suspicious betting patterns.

Shortly before a game, Porter sent Hennan a message that read: “Hit unders for the big numbers. I told [Co-Conspirator 2] no blocks no steals. I’m going to play first 2-3 minute stint off the bench then when I get subbed out tell them my eye killing me again.”

Poker Cheating Accusations

Hennen and fellow defendant Long Phi “Bruce” Pham were accused by several high-stakes players of being part of a poker cheating ring that won millions of dollars in private high-stakes games in Los Angeles in 2023. None of those accused were ever charged with a crime.

Pham denied running away. He claimed he had been on his way to a poker tournament at the Star Casino in Sydney, although there was no major tournament festival held at the Star that month.

Porter agreed to the scheme because he owed the gang gambling debts. He pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced in May.