Netflix details former NBA referee Tim Donaghy's betting scandal: 'Man, did I f--- my life up'
Tim Donaghy is famous, rather, infamous, for being the NBA referee who bet on his own games. He now has an upcoming Netflix documentary coming out detailing his story. How did he do it? Who were his accomplices and just how much did they make?
While the betting scandal involving Donaghy is now more than 15 years old — he resigned in 2007 after an FBI investigation concluded that he was making calls with the intention of impacting the point spread in the games he refereed, and also betted on — it doesn't sound like time has healed any wounds for the disgraced referee.
"Man, did I f—k my life up," he said in one of the first shots of the official trailer.
The preview of the film makes it clear that Donaghy was taking the inside information he had on upcoming games and using it to help himself, and his accomplices, get rich.
"Timmy would tell me who we'd bet on, and I'd relay it back to my guys," one gentleman said.
"I'd win a few million on each game. It was a printing press," another accomplice bragged.
"The story didn't just start and end with him (Donaghy), but wound its way from the small town bookies of the Philadelphia suburbs to lining the pockets of the notorious New York crime families and worldwide sports gambling underworld," Netflix said in its description of the show, which is part of the "Untold" series. "For the first time, all three co-conspirators discuss their involvement and, unsurprisingly, their stories don’t all line up."
Donaghy ultimately pleaded guilty to two federal charges — conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting betting information through interstate commerce — and spent time in prison from 2008 to 2009.
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