18 former players arrested in alleged $4M health care scam

Glen Davis Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

18 former NBA players arrested, charged in alleged $4 million health care scam

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 10/7/21

Three NBA champions are among a group of 18 former players who were arrested and charged Thursday for defrauding the league's Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of approximately $4 million.

NBC News correspondents Tom Winters and Jonathan Dienst broke the news . The list of players includes two members of the 2008 NBA champion Boston Celtics team — Glen "Big Baby" Davis and six-time All-Defensive Team member Tony Allen — as well as 2007 NBA champion Melvin Ely, who won a title with the San Antonio Spurs.

More former players:
- Terrence Williams
- Alan Anderson
- Tony Allen
- Shannon Brown
- William Bynum
- Melvin Ely
- Christopher Douglas-Roberts
- Tony Wroten

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— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 7, 2021

According to Winter, the indictment states that Terrence Williams, who was selected 11th overall in the 2009 draft by the New Jersey Nets, "orchestrated" the plan to submit false claims to the league's Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. The indictment also says that Williams was paid at least $230,000 in kickbacks from players in exchange for supplying false invoices.

Winter tweeted that the players involved in the scam, and some of their relatives, submitted around $3.9 million in fraudulent claims and received $2.5 million in fraudulent payments.

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