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Eighteen Ex-NBA Players Charged In $3.9 Million Benefits Scheme
Eighteen former NBA players were charged Thursday with defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan in a benefits scheme, the U.S. Southern District of New York announced Thursday.
The players are charged with submitting false reimbursement claims for medical and dental services, beginning in 2017, to the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan, which provides players with an HRA benefit and contributions into a health reimbursement account during and after players’ careers. In total, about $3.9 million in false claims were sought out, and about $2.5 million were paid to the players.
The former players include Terrence Williams, who has been described as the “lynchpin” of the operation, as well as Milt Palacio, Sebastian Telfair, Antoine Wright, Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Gregory Smith, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Jamario Moon, Alan Anderson, Tony Allen, Shannon Brown, William Bynum, Melvin Ely, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Tony Wroten, and Charles Watson Jr.
They have all been charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. Sixteen were arrested as of Thursday, according to officials, and nineteen have been charged in total — the nineteenth person being an unnamed spouse.
According to U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, Williams obtained fraudulent invoices for medical records, which he would then send to his co-conspirators. The co-conspirators, in turn, would submit the invoices to the benefits plan, which would pay out the claims, and then in many cases, send a kick-back to Williams.
