The NBA world was rocked with the news that 18 former NBA players have been charged with defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefits Program. Among the names of NBA players federally charged were names like Glen Davis, Tony Allen, Darius Miles, and Sebastian Telfair. According to a report from Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst of NBC news the former players were arrested for allegedly defrauding the program out of approximately four million dollars. A list of the players arrested that are known of was also provided:
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
More former players:
– Terrence Williams
– Alan Anderson
– Tony Allen
– Shannon Brown
– William Bynum
– Melvin Ely
– Christopher Douglas-Roberts
– Tony Wroten(2/2)
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 7, 2021
The information out about this case is limited at the moment and there could be more players involved that have not been named right now. The NBA players federally charged face charges of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud as well as aggravated identity theft. According to the indictment from the federal grand jury, this scheme went on from 2017 to sometime in or around 2020.
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
It appears that Terrence Williams was the ring leader of the scheme with Tony Allen, Shannon Brown and Glen Davis also heavily involved. Allen’s wife, Desiree Allen, was also charged in the federal indictment. As more breaking news comes out about this story, Def Pen Sports will update accordingly.
