NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Former NBA player Terrence Williams pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court for a scheme to defraud the league's healthcare plan of about $5 million, according to the Department of Justice.
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From 2017 to 2021, the 35-year-old former basketball player led a scheme that included over 18 other people to submit fraudulent claims for medical and dental services that were never carried out to the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan.
Williams relied on a California dentist and Washington State doctor for phony invoices that he then submitted himself or distributed to his co-conspirators.
His clients would send kickback payments of at least $300,000 after he set them up with fraudulent claims.
At one point he created a fake email address to appear as if he were an administrative manager for the NBA’s plan. He then used that email to threaten a co-conspirator into rejoining the scheme and continuing to pay kickbacks to Williams.
He later used the email address to extort the doctor he was working with for a bogus fine.
Williams would sometimes write “letters of medical necessity” for his clients. These letters are periodically required from the plan to verify the veracity of submissions.
Authorities said they spotted the fake letters due to a lack of letterhead, unusual formatting, grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
Police arrested Williams in April. While he was on pretrial release he threatened his co-defendants — instructing them to “shut the f**k up.”
“Williams led a scheme involving more than 18 former NBA players, a dentist, a doctor, and a chiropractor, to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of millions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said. “Williams also impersonated others to help him take what was not his — money that belonged to the Plan.”
Williams pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.
He faces up to 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced on Jan. 25, 2023.
He has already agreed to pay $2.5 million in restitution to the NBA’s plan and a fine of over $650,000.
Williams started his career with the New Jersey Nets in 2009 and moved to international teams in 2013. He retired from professional basketball in 2015.
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