Contributed by Lauren Taylor

NBC reported that an unsealed indictment in the Southern District of New York revealed 18 NBA veterans have been charged in federal court for committing fraud, allegedly creating a multi-million-dollar health insurance scheme abusing the league’s benefit plan.

Those named in the indictment include Terrence Williams, the alleged leader who played for the then-New Jersey Nets, his team member Tony Allen, Ronald Glen Davis, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Antoine Wright, Darius Miles, Sebastian Telfair, Shannon Brown, and more.

This widespread scheme was taking place in 2017 up to around 2020, the defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit wire and health care fraud as well as aggravated identity theft. Allegedly, they submitted fake reimbursement claims for medical and dental services that they never received to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan.

The indictment alleges that the defendants filed fake claims totaling $3.9 million, from which they received $2.5 million.

The alleged ringleader, Williams, helped get other players into the scheme by supporting their claims with fake invoices.  He allegedly gained a total of $230,000 in payments from the other players for the false documents.

The league made this statement, “The benefit plans provided by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association to our players are critically important to support their health and well-being throughout their playing careers and over the course of their lives, which makes these allegations particularly disheartening. We will cooperate fully with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this matter.”