NBA Updates PH – Terrence Williams, a former NBA player who was the leader of a scheme to steal about $5 million from the league’s health and welfare benefit plan, was given a 10-year jail sentence on Thursday.
According to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Terrence Williams will also have to serve three years of supervised release, pay back $2.5 million, and repay $653,672.55. In August of last year, he pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
Terrence Williams was one of 18 players who were first charged in October 2021. They were accused of a three-year scheme in which they filed fake reimbursement claims to the health plan for exams and procedures that were never done. Keyon Dooling, who used to be vice president of the NBPA, was eventually added to that group.
Prosecutors say that Terrence Williams was in charge. In exchange for kickbacks of at least $300,000, he got other past players and people not in the medical field to join the scheme.
He is also accused of making fake letters of medical necessity for three players and giving them to other players, impersonating health plan administrative managers, and trying to scare one of his co-defendants into joining the scheme. In one case, officials say he threatened a doctor who was part of the scheme by pretending to be the health plan through a fake email account and demanding a “fine” of about $346,000.
US Attorney Damian Williams says:
“Williams was in charge of a complex plan to steal millions of dollars from the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. Williams hired doctors and other people to help him grow his crime plot and get more money from it. Williams not only stole and lied to get money, but he also stole other people’s names and threatened a witness to help him with his crimes. Williams will spend many years in jail for his brazen crimes.”
Terrence Williams played in the NBA for the last time in 2013. He was picked 11th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft out of Louisville. He spent six seasons as a backup player for the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings, and Boston Celtics. After that, he played for several teams in foreign leagues for another two seasons.
At least two other former players have already been jailed, with Dooling getting 30 months and Alan Anderson getting 24 months.
