An alleged scheme to defraud the NBA health plan of millions of dollars has led to the arrest and indictment of nearly 20 former NBA players.
Jonathan Dienst of NBC New York reported on Thursday that 18 NBA veterans were named in the indictment, and all are facing a count of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud. These are the names reportedly in the indictment, which was unsealed Thursday:
- Alan Anderson
- Anthony Allen
- Shannon Brown
- William Bynum
- Ronald Glen Davis
- Christopher Douglas-Roberts
- Melvin Ely
- Jamario Moon
- Darius Miles
- Milton Palacio
- Ruben Patterson
- Eddie Robinson
- Gregory Smith
- Sebastian Telfair
- Charles Watson Jr.
- Antoine Wright
- Anthony Wroten
Desiree Allen, the wife of Anthony Allen, was also indicted.
Details of the alleged scheme
According to Dienst, who reviewed the grand jury indictment, the three-year scheme allegedly involved the former players submitting fake reimbursement claims for exams and procedures that were never done. The indictment alleges that they took in around $2.5 million from a total of nearly $4 million in fake claims.
Terrence Williams, the 11th overall pick in the 2009 draft, was allegedly the ringleader and is accused of having impersonated an insurance plan employee as part of the scheme.
Williams allegedly orchestrated the years-long scheme and recruited other NBA health plan participants to assist by offering them fake invoices to support their allegedly false health plan claims. He is accused of receiving kickback payments totaling at least $23,000 in return for providing the alleged false documentation.
The 34-year-old Williams also allegedly helped three co-defendants — Ronald Glen Davis, Charles Watson Jr. and Antoine Wright — obtain fake letters of medical necessity to justify some of the services on which the false invoices were based.
Williams also allegedly impersonated an individual who processed plan claims at one point in furtherance of his alleged scheme.
The claims were submitted for medical and dental services, but chiropractic care was reportedly a major part of the alleged scheme. One example included in the indictment was a $19,000 claim Williams allegedly submitted for chiropractic care, for which he was reimbursed more than $7,000. Dienst reported that Williams was allegedly able to get his hands on a fake template for invoices that looked like they had been issued by an actual chiropractic or medical practice.
Williams also allegedly emailed those fake invoices to his co-defendants and helped several of them obtain fake letters to justify the medical necessity of several of the procedures they had submitted for reimbursement.
(Yahoo News)
