Integrity concerns

The NBA has been embroiled in several betting scandals over the past couple of years. First was Jontay Porter getting a lifetime ban last year for exiting games early while playing for the Toronto Raptors to ensure he didn’t hit prop betting targets.

feds revealed they’re looking into Detroit Pistons shooting guard Malik Beasley

Then the Wall Street Journal revealed that Miami Heat’s Terry Rozier was under investigation for links to an illegal betting ring, and last month the feds revealed they’re looking into Detroit Pistons shooting guard Malik Beasley.

Suspicious timing

Now, a podcast hosted by Pablo Torre has unraveled the mystery about posts from a now-deleted X account “FreeMoose_NBA,” whose owner seemingly knew about some of these allegations before the NBA.

The same day the news about Terry Rozier’s investigation broke, the X account posted a not-so-subtle hint that Malik Beasley would be the next player in the firing line, saying: “Next you’ll hear about… M**** Be******.” In a follow-up post, he said that the player is on the Detroit Pistons roster.

This was five months before the federal probe was revealed. Beasley’s lawyer told the podcast that presuming someone is guilty when they’ve not even been charged with the crime or convicted is “a dangerous narrative.”

Great investigative work

During the Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast episode released on Tuesday, the hosts revealed the identity of the social media account’s owner as Mustafa Omar. They came to this conclusion after taking a deep dive into several X accounts and posts, showing screenshots and explaining their reasoning.

came across an account selling sports betting picks linked to Omar

They came across an account selling sports betting picks linked to Omar and were able to contact him to arrange a phone call. Audio from the conversation is played in the podcast episode:

During the chat, Omar claimed that he learned on Reddit about potentially shady behavior from Beasley regarding games he was playing in.

Links to the Porter case

Tom Haberstroh asked him about a betting slip he had posted to X on Jontay Porter having three or fewer rebounds and five or fewer points during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies on January 22, 2024, that won $1,670 from a $500 wager. He said it was a slip sent to him from someone else.

In a Discord channel for his betting picks from November, the podcasters saw that Omar posted messages about an upcoming crypto project that would involve “people who are currently facing trial after making so much money off a certain NBA gambling incident last season.” The Porter case is the only basketball-related trial this message could refer to.

The podcast hosts found that Omar is Facebook friends with Ammar Awawdeh, the New York City deli owner who is one of the people accused of conspiring with Jontay Porter. When Haberstroh asked Omar if he knew Ammar, he said no. After a deep dive, the podcasters learned that they are actually cousins and saw many pictures of them together.

X account Omar was communicating through and his Facebook profile were deleted

Following the phone conversation, Haberstroh found that both the X account Omar was communicating through and his Facebook profile were deleted.

• SCCG Management. The Gambling Industry’s Global Connector. Access Here.
• Source: https://www.vegasslotsonline.com/news/2025/07/16/podcasters-interview-social-media-poster-who-knew-about-malik-beasley-betting-scandal-before-nba/