18 ex-NBA players charged in alleged $4 million health insurance

Eighteen former NBA players, including former Celtics and Clippers player Ronald Glen “Big Baby” Davis, have been arrested and charged with defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of nearly $4 million.

The ex-players are accused of submitting false reimbursement claims from around 2017 to 2020 for medical and dental services that were not actually purchased, according to an indictment filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, or SDNY.

Those false claims totaled about $3.9 million, according to the indictment. Players received about $2.5 million in total fraudulent proceeds, with each receiving as little as $65,000 to as much as $420,000.

“The benefit plans provided by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association to our players are critically important to support their health and well-being throughout their playing careers and over the course of their lives, which makes these allegations particularly disheartening,” The NBA said in a statement Thursday. The league noted that it will cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this matter.

The NBA Players Association also said in a statement late Thursday it was aware of the indictment and will continue to monitor the situation.

The FBI arrested 16 of the defendants Thursday morning in 12 districts across the country, said Michael Driscoll, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s New York Field office.

One defendant, former Portland Trail Blazers player Sebastian Telfair, will be presented late Thursday before a SDNY magistrate judge, SDNY U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss added. The remaining players will be presented before judges in their districts of arrest.

The FBI and New York Police Department Health Care Fraud Task Force are conducting an investigation into the scheme, according to Strauss.

The NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan provides additional coverage on top of existing medical coverage for eligible active and former NBA players and their families, Strauss said. It is primarily funded by contributions from NBA teams.

Terrence Williams, 11th overall in the 2009 NBA draft by the then-New Jersey Nets, was the alleged ringleader of the scheme to defraud the plan, according to the indictment. 

Williams allegedly recruited other NBA players by offering fabricated invoices to be used in false claims in exchange for the payment of kickbacks to him. According to the indictment, Williams received at least $230,000 in kickbacks from the players.

When one defendant failed to pay for the false documentation in kickbacks, Williams allegedly “tried to frighten the player into re-engaging” by impersonating an employee who processed the health-care plan claims and saying…