Former NBA player Terrence Williams has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan, according to the United States Attorney’s Office. Williams, known for playing with teams like the New Jersey Nets and Houston Rockets, has been in prison since spring 2022 after threatening witnesses in his case. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, as well as aggravated identity theft.
Williams orchestrated a scheme to steal millions of dollars from the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. He recruited medical professionals and others to expand his criminal conspiracy and maximize his ill-gotten gains. In addition to fraud and deceit, Williams also stole the identities of others and threatened a witness. As a result, he now faces years in prison.
The health and welfare benefit plan provides benefits to eligible active and former NBA players and their families. Williams abused the plan from at least 2017 through at least 2021 by submitting fraudulent claims for medical and dental services that were never rendered. He provided false invoices to his co-conspirators, including dentists and doctors in California and Washington state.
Williams was one of 18 former NBA players indicted in 2021, with Keyon Dooling and Alan Anderson also involved in the scheme. The scheme was eventually exposed due to paperwork discrepancies, such as former NBA center Gregory Smith submitting a claim for dental work in California while he was actually playing in Taiwan.
In addition to his prison sentence, Williams was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $653,672.55, as well as pay restitution of $2.5 million. Williams was the 11th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft and had a brief NBA career before being out of the league. Over his career, he averaged 7.1 points, 2.4 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per game.
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