18 NBA veterans arrested in $ 4 million health insurance fraud scheme – NBC New York

More than a dozen former NBA players have been indicted in a New York federal court in an alleged multi-million dollar health insurance fraud scheme to scam the league’s benefit plan, according to a indictment unsealed Thursday in the southern district.

The 18 former players named in the indictment include alleged ploy leader Terrence Williams, selected 11th in the 2009 NBA Draft by then-New Jersey Nets, Tony Allen, six times member of the NBA All-Defensive team, former Lakers guard Shannon Brown and Ronald. Glen Davis, who played for the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers during his career.

Allen’s wife, Desiree Allen, is the only woman charged in the indictment.

Those charged face charges of conspiracy to commit healthcare and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. By late morning, 16 of them were in police custody after arrests in a dozen places across the country. The FBI said “this remains an ongoing investigation,” although it is not clear whether further arrests are expected.

According to the grand jury indictment, the defendants are said to have embarked on a widespread program from at least 2017 until about 2020 to defraud the NBA player health and welfare benefit plan by submitting bogus claims for medical and dental services that were never actually rendered.

In some cases, the players who submitted the alleged false allegations were not even in the United States when they allegedly received the treatments. They allegedly filed bogus invoices saying they had to pay for the shadow procedures out of pocket.

These allegedly fraudulent claims totaled approximately $ 3.9 million, of which the defendants obtained approximately $ 2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds, according to the indictment.

Williams is said to have orchestrated the multi-year program and recruited other NBA health plan participants to help them by offering them bogus bills to back up their claims. He allegedly received at least $ 230,000 in bribe payments from 10 other players in return for providing the alleged false documentation.

Williams, 34, is also believed to have helped three co-defendants – Davis, Charles Watson Jr. and Antoine Wright – obtain bogus letters of medical necessity to justify some of the services the bogus bills were based on.

Williams is also alleged to have impersonated an individual who dealt with diet claims at some point in connection with his purported scheme.

Among the bogus claims described in the indictment is a claim for $ 19,000 that Williams filed for chiropractic services he would never have had and for which he was awarded 7,672.55 $ in reimbursement. Williams also allegedly got a template for a fake invoice designed to appear as if it had been issued by the office.

Fake chiropractic treatment bills were also reportedly created for Davis, Watson Jr. and Wright and emailed to Williams. The template included the date, invoice number, services, and a $ 15,000 charge, but left the “bill to” box, where the patient’s name would normally be, blank, according to the indictment.

Williams is accused of sending these false invoices by email to the other defendants named in the indictment. He and defendant Alan Anderson, who briefly played for the Nets from 2013-2015, also allegedly helped obtain bogus letters of medical necessity for Davis, Watson Jr. and Wright as part of the fraud scheme.

According to court documents, several of the fake invoices and medical necessity forms stood out because, “they are not on letterhead, they contain unusual formatting, they contain grammatical errors” and were sent to the same dates from different offices.

In another example, American Manhattan attorney Audrey Strauss told a press conference that accused Gregory Smith submitted documents for a root canal in Beverly Hills, when he was actually playing the basketball in Taiwan at the time. Others have also submitted false root canal documents, she added.

Some of the players were asked to reimburse the money they had received from the NBA health plan once the claims were determined to be false. Some did and some didn’t, according to court documents.

Also named in the indictment: Brooklyn-born Sebastian Telfair, who played for half a 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.

Prosecutors are looking for “all property, real or personal, that constitutes or derives, directly or indirectly” from the alleged restitution fraud. If any of these assets cannot be acquired for any reason, the US government declares that it will seek the confiscation of any other property of the defendants up to the same value.

A request for comment from the league was not immediately returned.

Here are the 18 former NBA players indicted

Here are the former players indicted in the unsealed indictment on Thursday:

Terrence Williams: Suspected conductor of the scheme. Drafted by the New Jersey Nets 11th overall in 2009, played for the Nets in 2009-10 and made a triple-double for them against the Bulls on April 9, 2010 (27 points / 13 rebounds / 10 assists). His career faltered after that and he mainly rebounded in the NBA D league and abroad.

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Alain Anderson: Played for the Brooklyn Nets in 2013 and 2014, benched for four NBA teams from 2012 to 2017.

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Anthony Allen: His name is Tony, played for three teams in 15 NBA seasons (Celtics, Grizzlies, Pelicans) and was a first round pick by Boston in 2004. He was a crucial part of the 2008 Celtics team that won the NBA title. His wife, Desiree, is the only woman named in the federal indictment that was unsealed Thursday.

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Shannon Brown: Former 1st round pick in 2006 by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He played with LeBron James in Cleveland and won two NBA titles with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers (2009, 2010) as a key player. He played for the Knicks in 2014 and played for a total of eight NBA teams from 2006 to 2014.

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Guillaume Bynum: Played for three NBA teams but spent most of his career with the Detroit Pistons from 2008-2014.

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Melvin Ely: Former 2002 first-round pick who played for five NBA teams from 2002-2011 and was part of the 2007 San Antonio Spurs NBA title team, although he never played in the playoffs.

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Christopher Douglas-Roberts: Goes aka “Supreme Bey,” was drafted by the New Jersey-era Nets in 2008 and traded to the Bucks in 2010, but his career fizzled out.

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Anthony wrote: Goes by “Tony,” was a 2012 first-round pick who played sparingly from 2012 to 2016 for Memphis and Philadelphia.

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Milton Palacio: Goes by Milt, played for six NBA teams from 1999 to 2006. He once beat the New Jersey-era Nets on a buzzer beater in 2000, but was otherwise more of a bench end player.

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Sébastien Telfair: From Coney Island to Brooklyn, played for nine NBA teams from 2004 to 2014

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Antoine wright: 2005 The 1st round pick began his NBA career with the New Jersey Nets (2005-2008), primarily as a bench player

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Miles Darius: Third draft overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2000, was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2002 where he was a teammate with then-rookie LeBron James. He starred in several films

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Ruben Patterson: Played for six different NBA teams from 1998-2007, known for his defense on the field

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Eddie Robinson: Played for the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls from 1999 to 2004

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Gregory Smith: Briefly played for three NBA teams in three seasons (2014 to 2016)

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Ronald Glen Davis: Goes by “Glen” or “Big Baby,” started at LSU in college and then became a key player for the Boston Celtics from 2007 to 2011, including winning a title in 2008. He played for three NBA teams in total between 2007 and 2015

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Jamario Moon: Played for five NBA teams from 2007-2012, briefly marked career highlight with the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James from 2009-2011

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