18 Ex-NBA Players Charged With Defrauding League Healthcare Plan of $4 Million

Federal authorities have charged 18 former NBA players, including Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Sebastian Telfair, with defrauding the league’s health-care plan out of nearly $4 million, reports the Washington Post. From 2017 through 2020, the indictment states, the players submitted phony invoices to the NBA’s health benefit plan for reimbursements for services they never actually received from a chiropractor’s office, two dental offices and a “wellness office” that specialized in “sexual health, anti-aging, and general well-being.” The charges, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, include conspiracy to commit health-care fraud and wire fraud.

Terrence Williams, the scheme’s alleged ringleader and a 2009 draft pick, circulated the false invoices to the others in exchange for kickbacks. Also among those charged were Darius Miles, 39, the No. 3 pick in the 2000 NBA draft by the Clippers, as well as Tony Allen, 39, a former player for the Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans from 2004 to 2018. Desiree Allen, Tony Allen’s wife, also was charged. Milt Palacio, 43, who played six seasons in the NBA from 1999 to 2006 before joining the Portland Trail Blazers as an assistant coach in August, was charged as well. The Blazers said that Palacio had been placed on administrative leave, “pending further notice.” Working with two unnamed co-conspirators, Williams created fake invoices and fabricated doctor’s letters he circulated to the other former players, according to the indictment, but several red flags in the documents later drew the attention of administrators of the health-care plan, as well as federal law enforcement. Some of the doctor’s letters contained grammatical errors and misspelled patient names.