18ex NBA players charged with benefit plan scheme
Breaking News — 18 ex-NBA players were charged with illegally pocketing $2.5 million by cheating the league’s health and welfare benefit plan in a scheme. It involves filing bogus medical and dental expenses, according to officials.
“The defendants’ playbook involved fraud and deception,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said at a press conference after FBI investigators throughout the country arrested 15 former players. Also, one of their wives in a three-year conspiracy that began in 2017, according to officials.
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
According to an indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan, the ex-players conspired to cheat the supplemental coverage plan. It is by filing false claims for medical and dental operations that never occurred.
Prosecutors have travel records, email, and GPS data, according to Strauss. They show the ex-players were sometimes far from the medical and dental clinics when they planned to get the treatment.
According to Strauss, each defendant falsely claimed reimbursements ranging from $65,000 to $420,000.
“Especially upsetting”
The NBA said in a statement that the allegations are “especially upsetting” because the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association’s benefit plans are vital in supporting players’ health and well-being throughout their careers and after they retire.
“We will cooperate fully with the U.S. Attorney Office in this matter,” the statement added.
The investigation reflected the FBI’s sustained attention on discovering fraud scams that cost the healthcare industry tens of billions of dollars each year, according to Michael J. Driscoll, the director of the New York FBI office.
Terrence Williams, a first-round NBA draft pick in 2009, was likely to be the mastermind behind the plot, according to Strauss. In November 2017, he allegedly submitted $19,000 in fraudulent claims to the plan for chiropractic services, according to the indictment. Williams received a $7,672 settlement as a result of the claims.
According to the complaint, he then enlisted the help of other former NBA players to defraud the plan, offering to produce forged bills from a chiropractor and dentist in Southern California, as well as a wellness center in Washington.
According to court documents, at least ten of the ex-players paid Williams $230,000 in kickbacks. A lawyer who has previously defended Williams declined to comment.
