On Aug. 3, a federal judge sentenced former NBA player Terrence Williams to 10 years in prison, for defrauding the NBA health and welfare benefit plan out of more than $5 million.
Williams, who was a first-round pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, as well as aggravated identity theft.
Williams was also ordered to forfeit more than $650,000 and to pay $2.5 million in restitution for scamming the league’s health and welfare benefit plan between 2017 and 2021. He would submit fake invoices for medical and dental work that never happened.
Williams recruited players and non-medical professionals into the scheme in exchange for a $300K kickback, according to Yahoo Sports.
Due to discrepancies in the paperwork, the scheme was eventually unveiled after another former NBA player, Gregory Smith, submitted a claim for a root canal and crowns in December 2018 in Beverly Hills, but he wasn’t in California during that time, he was playing in Taiwan.
Williams was remanded to custody in 2022 because he allegedly threatened a witness in text messages, saying they were “talking way too f—ing much,” and they needed to “shut the f— up,” and “spitting in your face is exactly what you’ll see.”
Williams played four seasons in the NBA, spending time with the Nets, Rockets, Kings and Celtics.
