NYC gambler accused of conspiring with NBA player will be freed on $750K bond

A high-rolling gambler accused of conspiring with an NBA player to rig basketball games — likely Toronto Raptors forward Jontay Porter — will be freed on bail, a Brooklyn judge ruled Wednesday.

But Brooklyn Federal Court Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollack said Long Phi “Bruce” Pham won’t be released until his family officially posts the two houses needed to secure his $750,000 bond.

His three sisters, his brother-in-law, and a retired New Jersey cop will secure the bond.

Pham, 38, considered one of the world’s top poker players, was about to board a one-way flight to Australia at JFK Airport Monday when federal authorities arrested him and charged him with conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Prosecutors don’t name the NBA player Pham is accused of conspiring with, though the specifics in the criminal complaint match up with Porter, who was banned from the league for life in April.

The hoops player identified in court documents as Player 1 was swimming in gambling debts with other unnamed members of Pham’s conspiracy, and agreed to leave two games after just a few minutes of play so gamblers with bets on his performance could rake in more than $1 million, the feds allege.

“I am sitting here today with very serious doubts about whether I’m making a big mistake,” Pollack said Wednesday before taking the extra step of making sure the houses were officially posted as collateral. “I think he’s trying to flee the country to evade prosecution.”

Pollack on Tuesday denied an initial bond request, and in a tense hearing Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Weintraub called Pham a flight risk, saying that one of the three sisters posting the bond placed a $2,000 bet on the NBA player.

Pham also tried to buy $100,000 worth of Rolex watches and transfer them to another of the sisters, Weintraub alleged.

“What this says to the government is that the defendant has no concern with involving his family members with his illicit, illegal conduct … and would not hesitate to burn them,” Weintraub said.

Pham’s lawyer, Michael Soshnick said that he hopes to get the documents in order on the two houses — one in Cypress, Texas owned by one sister and her husband, and the other in Oakland Gardens, Queens owned by another sister — by Thursday.

In the meantime, Pham must stay in Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, known for inmates’ dreadful living conditions.

“It’s not a pleasant place,” Soshnick said. “He’s not eating any of the food. He’s not sleeping.”