Multiple Ex-NBA Players Indicted In Alleged Health Insurance Fraud Scheme

Eighteen former players have been charged in New York federal court in an alleged multimillion-dollar health insurance fraud scheme designed to rip off the NBA’s benefit plan, according to an exclusive report from Jonathan Dienst and Tom Winter of NBC4-TV in New York.

The indictment was unsealed in the New York’s Southern District on Thursday.

Per Dienst and Winter, the 18 former players listed in the indictment include Terrence Williams, selected 11th overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the Nets, six-time NBA All-Defensive Team member Tony Allen, former Lakers guard Shannon Brown and Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who played for the Celtics, Magic and Clippers.

Others named include: guard Sebastian Telfair, who played for a half-dozen NBA teams including the Cavaliers, Clippers, Celtics and Timberwolves and Darius Miles, drafted third overall by the Clippers in the 2000 NBA draft and a first team NBA All-Rookie player.

Others listed: Milt Palacio, Antoine Wright, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Greg Smith, Jamario Moon, Alan Anderson, Will Bynum, Melvin Ely, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Tony Wroten.

Dienst and Winter reported the following:

According to the grand jury indictment, the defendants allegedly engaged in a widespread scheme from at least 2017 up to around 2020 to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan by submitting fake reimbursement claims for medical and dental services that were never actually rendered.

Those allegedly fraudulent claims totaled about $3.9 million, from which the defendants got about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds, the indictment alleges.

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. 

Hoops Wire will continue to update this story as it develops.