The scammers are out scamming.
I can’t say I am surprised at any names on this list because if you were going to guess some NBA players who might do this, some of these names would come up.
More than a dozen former NBA players have been charged in New York federal court in an alleged multi-million-dollar health insurance fraud scheme to rip off the NBA-related health plan, according to an indictment unsealed in the Southern District on Thursday.
The 18 former players named in the indictment include alleged scheme ringleader Terrence Williams, selected 11th overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the then-New Jersey Nets, six-time NBA All-Defensive Tem member Anthony Allen, former Lakers Guard Shannon Brown, and Ronald Glen Davis, who played for the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers over the course of his career.
Also named in the indictment: Brooklyn-born Sebastian Telfair, who played for a half-dozen NBA teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Clippers, Celtics, and Minnesota Timberwolves, and Darius Miles, drafted third overall by the Clippers in the 2000 NBA draft and a first-team NBA All-Rookie player.
Allen’s wife, Desiree Allen, is the only woman charged in the indictment.
From 2017-2020 the players engaged in a scam to get money from the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan by submitting fake reimbursement claims. If they would have actually went to the doctor or dentist, it might have worked, but they never did.
In total, they scammed about $4 million.
It appears that Williams was the mastermind.
Williams allegedly orchestrated the years-long scheme and recruited other NBA health plan participants to assist by offering them fake invoices to support their allegedly false health plan claims. He is accused of receiving kickback payments totaling at least $230,000 in return for providing the alleged false documentation.
NFL players were caught up in a similar scam and have been cutting plea deals ever since. I imagine the same will happen with these guys as well unless they want to go to jail for a long time.
It is sad because NBA players make a lot of money but still end up so broke they have to do some scamming on the side like us regular folk.
Telfair is already in jail on unrelated charges, so his week just got worse.
Flip the page for more on the scam and all the players involved.
