Eighteen former NBA players have been indicted and accused of defrauding the league’s health and advantages plan of almost $4 million, federal prosecutors introduced Thursday. The former players had been charged with conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.
The scheme lasted from about 2017 by means of 2020 when the former players allegedly submitted false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement for medical and dental companies that had been by no means rendered, in response to the indictment.
Terrence Williams, a former New Jersey Nets participant, allegedly orchestrated the scheme and recruited different former players by supplying them pretend invoices to assist the fraudulent claims, federal prosecutors stated. The indictment alleges that Williams was paid greater than $230,000 in “kickbacks” for the pretend invoices.
He was additionally charged with aggravated id theft for allegedly impersonating a health plan worker and threatening players who didn’t pay him a “kickback.”
Williams, who the Nets drafted eleventh total in 2009, was arrested in Washington state, federal authorities stated. A further 15 of the named defendants are at present in police custody
“The defendants’ playbook involved fraud and deception,” Audrey Strauss, the U.S. Lawyer of the Southern District of New York, stated in a information convention Thursday. “Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement partners, their alleged scheme has been disrupted and they will have to answer for their flagrant violations of law.”
A complete of 19 folks had been charged in the alleged scheme, together with Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who gained a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008. Anthony Allen, who earned a hoop alongside Davis with the Celtics, was additionally charged. The Memphis Grizzlies planned to retire Allen’s No. 9 jersey later this yr.
His spouse, Desiree Allen, is the one non-player named in the indictment.
The opposite players indicted included Darius Miles and Sebastian Telfair, each of whom had been drafted to the NBA out of highschool. Different well-known players included Shannon Brown, William Bynum, Jamario Moon and Antoine Wright.
