Terrence Williams pleads guilty to scheme to defraud NBA health plan
Federal authorities in October indicted 18 former NBA players for defrauding at least $5 million from the league’s health care plan. According to the indictment, from 2017 to 2020, the athletes were sent to a chiropractor’s office, two dental offices, and “sexual health, anti-aging, and general well-being.”
Williams, 35, was drafted in the 2009 lottery and spent four years in the NBA before embarking on an overseas career. According to the indictment, Williams worked with a dentist in California and a doctor in Washington to create fake bills and forge doctor’s letters that he distributed to other former players in exchange for kickbacks. said health care plan administrators and federal law enforcement found several red flags, including doctors’ letters containing grammatical errors and misspellings of patient names. Some players in the scheme filed claims for treatment they claimed they received when they were out of state or out of the country, the indictment says.
Williams has worked with Sebastian Telfair, 37, who played for the Portland Trail Blazers and seven other teams from 2004 to 2013, and Glenn “Big Baby,” who led LSU to the Final Four in 2006 before the NBA. We’ve recruited a few players, including Davis, 36. Careers with Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers.
Williams was also found to have impersonated another person, according to the indictment, and at one point created an email account designed to resemble the account of a health insurance administration manager. Through this account, Williams allegedly tried to “scare” co-defendants into paying kickbacks.
During his pretrial release earlier this year, Williams was remanded for sending threatening emails to witnesses.
Conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His one count of identity theft aggravated by Williams carries her a minimum sentence of two years in prison. As part of his guilty plea, the former Louisville standout agreed to pay him $2,500,000 in return to the NBA player’s health and benefits plan. Williams, who also forfeits $653,672.55, is scheduled for sentencing in January.
