NEW YORK (Reuters) – Eighteen former National Basketball Association players were charged on Thursday with defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan out of $3.9 million by seeking reimbursement for medical and dental work that was never performed.
According to an indictment filed with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, players received $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds, with 10 paying the alleged ringleader, Terrence Williams, at least $230,000 in kickbacks.
Prosecutors said Williams offered false invoices in exchange for the kickbacks and helped obtain bogus “letters of medical necessity” for three players.
“The defendants’ playbook involved fraud and deception,” U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Audrey Strauss said at a press conference.
