18 Former NBA Stars Indicted In $4 Million Insurance Fraud Scheme

In an unbelievable insurance fraud scheme, 18 former NBA players have been indicted on charges for making false claims with the NBA's Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. The plan is funded mostly by NBA team contributions. The defendants include Tony Allen, Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Sebastian Telfair, and veterans like Milt Palacio, Antoine Wright, Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Greg Smith, Jamario Moon, Alan Anderson, Shannon Brown, Will Bynum, Melvin Ely, Anthony Wroten, C.J. Watson and Chris Douglas-Roberts. Tony Allen’s wife Desiree Allen was also indicted and so far, the only non-player named in the case.

During yesterday's press conference, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, alleged that the mastermind behind the entire thing was former NBA star Terrence Williams. Below she runs down how Williams cooked up the scheme and got others involved. Strauss claims Williams recruited ex-players, supplied them with fake invoices in exchange for a kickback fee. According to the feds, the players made off with a combined $4 million in insurance claims and over the course of 3-years, collected more than $2 million!

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a press release. “Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement partners, their alleged scheme has been disrupted and they will have to answer for their flagrant violations of law.” The federal indictments were handed down Thursday, October 7 as a result of a lengthy investigation that was being conducted for more than a year. Williams has been arrested.

Wow! It is not known if any of these former players admitted guilt, nor if any of them will be issued prison time. We will keep you posted as this is an ongoing case.