Former Nets first-rounder gets 10 years in jail over NBA fraud scheme
Former Nets first-round pick Terrence Williams was sentenced to 10 years in prison for leading a scheme to defraud the NBA health and welfare benefit plan out of more than $5 million, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Southern District of New York announced via press release on Thursday.
AU.S. Attorney Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York said:
“Williams led a wide-ranging scheme to steal millions of dollars from the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. Williams recruited medical professionals and others to expand his criminal conspiracy and maximize his ill-gotten gains. Williams not only lined his pockets through fraud and deceit, but he also stole the identities of others and threatened a witness to further his criminal endeavors. For his brazen criminal acts, Williams now faces years in prison.”
His co-defendants included a dentist in California and doctors in Washington and California, who provided Williams with fraudulent invoices that he sent to other co-conspirators. Williams also recruited others to copy invoices made by medical offices, which Williams provided to co-conspirators and were used to defraud the Plan.
In addition to his prison term, Williams was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $650,000 and pay restitution in the amount of $2.5 million.
Want to bet on the NBA?
Previously, Williams pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, the Department of Justice announced in August 2022.
The Justice Department said administrators of the health care plan and federal law enforcement caught several red flags, including doctor’s letters containing grammatical errors and misspelled patient names.
Williams was drafted No. 11 overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. He was traded to the Houston Rockets in 2010 in a three-way deal that brought Lakers guard Sasha Vujacic and two first-round picks to New Jersey.
He played four seasons in the NBA, averaging 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game before taking his talents overseas.
