Multiple former NBA players have been arrested and hit with federal charges for allegedly defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan, reports NBC New York.
Among the players named in the indictment include Tony Allen, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Shannon Brown, Darius Miles, Sebastian Telfair, Alan Anderson, Ruben Patterson, Jamario Moon, and Terrence Williams—the last of whom has been deemed as the mastermind behind the scheme amounting to $4 million in payouts from the league.
The federal charges include conspiracy to commit health care fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Allen’s wife, Desiree, has also been charged.
Sixteen of the charged players are currently in federal custody in the ongoing investigation.
BREAKING: 18 former NBA players have been arrested and charged federally for defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of approximately $4,000,000, law enforcement officials say.
Reported by @jonathan4ny
and me.— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 7, 2021
Authorities claim that Williams “orchestrated” the plan to submit fraudulent medical and dental claims to the NBA’s Health ad Welfare Benefit Plan and offered to supply other players with false invoices in exchange for kickback payments.
According to the indictment, Williams received a least $230,000 in payments from 10 former players, some of whom involved their relatives in the scheme. The players involved received $2.5 million total in fraudulent payments out of the $3.9 million in fraudulent claims made.
Williams also allegedly helped three players obtain fake letters of medical necessity and impersonated “an individual who processed plan claims.”
The indictment says that former NBA player Terrence Williams “orchestrated” a plan to submit false claims to the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. Williams allegedly offered to supply false invoices from a group of former players in exchange for kickback payments to Williams
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 7, 2021
All told, the indictment says Williams was paid at least $230,000 in kickbacks from 10 other players.
The players involved and some of their relatives submitted approximately $3.9 million in fraudulent claims and actually received $2.5 million in fraudulent payments.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 7, 2021
See the full list of former NBA players named in the indictment below.
– Milton Palacio
– Sebastian Telfair
– Antoine Wright
– Darius Miles
– Ruben Patterson
– Eddie Robinson
– Gregory Smith
– Ronald Glen Davis
– Jamario Moon
– Terrence Williams
– Alan Anderson
– Tony Allen
– Shannon Brown
– William Bynum
– Melvin Ely
– Christopher Douglas-Roberts
– Anthony Wroten
– Charles Watson Jr