According to the Associated Press on Thursday night
Eighteen former NBA players were charged Thursday with illegally earning about $3.9 million through scams into the league's health and welfare programs, of which the 18 received about $2.5 million. Authorities said the scam involved falsely reporting medical and dental expenses.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said at a news conference that FBI agents arrested 15 former players and one of their wives across the country. Authorities said the investigation began in 2017 and lasted three years. "The defendants' tactics involved fraud and deception."
The indictment alleges that the scheme will be implemented at least between 2017 and 2020, when the scheme received a total of about $3.9 million in false claims. Among them, the defendants received a total of about $2.5 million in fraudulent gains.
Strauss said each defendant made false claims ranging from $65,000 to $420,000.
Strauss said the plot was led by Terrence Williams, the player who was selected by the Nets with the 11th pick in the first round of the 2009 draft. He played for the Nets, Green Army, Rockets and Kings in the NBA, averaging 7.1 points per game in his career. He was dropped by Boston just two days after his 26th birthday in 2013 and has not appeared in the league since. The indictment alleges that he filed a fraudulent claim of $19,000 to the scheme in November 2017 for chiropractic treatment. The claim resulted in Williams receiving $7,672 in damages.
Other former NBA players were then brought in to implement the program and offered to provide false invoices to a chiropractor and dentist in Southern California and a health office in Washington state.
The 18 former NBA players include: Terrance Williams, Alan Anderson, Tony Allen, Shannon Brown, Will Bynum, Marvin Ely, Douglas Roberts, Tony Roten, Milt Palacio, Sebastian Telfer, Antoine Wright, Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Gregory Smith, Glen Davis, Jamario Moon, and CJ Watson.
Among the former NBA players involved were members of the championship team, including Tony Allen, Glen Davis, and Shannon Brown. Among them, Tony Allen has been selected to the Defensive First Team of the Season three times. Previously, the Grizzlies had announced that they would retire Tony Allen's No. 9 jersey, and now he is deeply involved in the whirlpool of fraud, which also casts a shadow over the smooth progress of the jersey retirement ceremony.
After the incident, the NBA officially issued a statement: "The benefit programs offered by the NBA and the players' unions to our players are vital to their health and well-being in their careers and lives, which makes these allegations particularly frustrating." We will fully cooperate with the Federal Prosecutor's Office on this issue.
The 18 players made a total of $343 million in their NBA careers, not to mention other income, endorsements and playing overseas.