NBA: Over a dozen former players indicted in a multi-million dollar fraud conspiracy!
New York, New York - A group of former NBA players found themselves dealing with an altogether different kind of court, as charges were levied on Thursday in a multi-million dollar health care fraud scheme.
The NBA’s health and welfare benefit plan was the alleged target of 18 former NBA players, who were all indicted for conspiring to skim money from the league’s fund by falsifying medical and dental expenses.
The caper dated back as far as 2017 and even involved one of the charged athletes’ wives.
"The defendants' playbook involved fraud and deception," the Associated Press quoted US Attorney Audrey Strauss as saying.
During a Thursday morning news conference, Strauss revealed details of the indictment that was handed down in the Manhattan federal court, with assistance from the New York City FBI field office.
The frauds committed ranged from simple inflation of amounts claimed to completely false claims, one of which allegedly had a player requesting reimbursements for procedures that occurred in the US while he was in a different country.
These claims generally ranged anywhere between several tens of thousands to nearly half a million dollars.
Authorities pointed to former 2009 first-round draft pick Terrence Williams, who got the ball rolling first with a single fraudulent claim in November 2017.
Once it was deemed successful, he is accused of recruiting other players to act in kind, even supplying assistance to approximately 10 separate players for a cut of the reimbursement cash.
Other notable names that were indicted include 2008 NBA champions from the Celtics, Glen Davis and Tony Allen, whose wife was also charged.
Altogether, authorities say the group managed to come away with about $2.5 million, from around $4-million worth of attempted claims.
This was a fraction of what the entire group of former players totaled in just NBA salaries – a whopping $343 million.
At this point in time, the NBA has still not released an official comment regarding the indictment.
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