Timothy McCormack, a self-proclaimed gambling addict, received a two-year prison sentence Wednesday as he became the first defendant to be sentenced for his role in a sweeping conspiracy involving NBA players Terry Rozier and Jontay Porter.
A federal judge in Brooklyn handed down the sentence to McCormack, who defrauded sports betting platforms by using nonpublic information to place highly profitable wagers tied to the performance of NBA players allegedly in on the scheme.
“I’ve struggled with a gambling addiction for more than half my life,” McCormack said at his sentencing.
Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall’s sentence fell below the four-year sentence the government sought. The defense pushed for a sentence without prison time.
“He has an addiction,” DeArcy Hall said. “I don’t believe the conduct Mr. McCormack engaged in defines him.”
The judge also agreed with federal prosecutors that McCormack undermined integrity in sports.
“There is no question this is a serious crime,” DeArcy Hall said. “Sports matters to me as an individual, as it should to society.”
Prosecutor David Berman conceded McCormack was “not as culpable as some of his co-conspirators” but said he contributed to a “cold, hard fraud.”
“Without people like the defendant, these schemes can’t work,” Berman told the judge.
Rozier, who is on unpaid leave from the Miami Heat, pleaded not guilty in December to wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy charges stemming from accusations that he helped some friends win bets that revolved around his statistical performance in a game played in March 2023, when he was with the Charlotte Hornets.
He is free on $3 million bond and isn’t expected back in court until March.
Porter pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in 2024, admitting that he schemed to take himself out of games for gambling’s sake. He has been banned from the NBA and awaits sentencing.
Aaron Katersky of ABC News contributed to this report.