We now have an idea of what happened with the 18 former NBA players who were arrested on Thursday morning for defrauding the NBA out of millions of dollars.
According to federal prosecutors the 18 former players, led by Terrence Williams, defrauded the NBA’s health and welfare benefit plan out of about $4 million by submitting false dental claims.
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
Via ESPN
According to the indictment, the former players engaged in a widespread scheme to defraud the plan by submitting false and fraudulent claims to get reimbursed for medical and dental expenses that were never actually incurred.
The 18 players were among 19 individuals charged in the indictment. It said that the scheme was carried out from at least 2017 to 2020, when the plan received false claims totaling about $3.9 million. Of that, the defendants received about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds.
Prosecutors went on to provide evidence of players submitting false claims on procedures that purportedly took place on the same teeth on the same day and at the same location.
Former NBA players arrested submitted false root canal procedures on the same teeth, on the same day, at the same location looool pic.twitter.com/KOQkYj0SVk
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) October 7, 2021
Glen Davis, Anthony Wroten, and Anthony Allen purportedly had root canals on the same six teeth on April 30 2016, and crowns on the same six teeth on May 11th, 2016. Wroten and Allen each purportedly had root canals on the same thirteen teeth on September 6th, 2018 and crowns on the same twelve teeth on October 2nd, 2016.
One player, Gregory Smith, submitted an alleged false claim for $48k in Beverly Hills on the same week he was out of the country playing a game in Taiwan.
I think my favorite SDNY/NBA story belongs to Greg Smith. He submitted a $48,000 claim for dental work done in Beverly Hills on 12/20/18. The only problem is that he was actually in Taiwan playing basketball that week. Investigators just pulled the box scores. Hahaha.
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) October 7, 2021
#NBAFraud case charge:
Defendant says he received “root canals and crowns on eight teeth” in Beverly Hills on Dec. 20, 2018 for $48K.
Travel records and “publicly available box scores show that he was playing professional basketball in Taiwan that week”pic.twitter.com/960hQVJVIv
— Weston Blasi (@westonblasi) October 7, 2021
While the players have not been found guilty in court yet, it’s not looking good for them.