The unfortunate reality of the world that we live in, is that people will always try to cheat the system in one way or another for their own benefit. In the case of the NBA, shocking news emerged last year, which revealed that ex-player Terrence Williams had orchestrated a fraud against the NBA’s Wealth and Benefit plan.
As many as 18 former NBA players were arrested in what was an ugly incident, and Ross, who played 4 seasons in the league from 2009 to 2013, pleaded guilty to his crimes on Friday.
“Williams led a scheme involving more than 18 former NBA players, a dentist, a doctor, and a chiropractor, to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of millions of dollars,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement. “Williams also impersonated others to help him take what was not his — money that belonged to the Plan.”
The report indicates that they submitted fake claims totaling at least $5 million, and Williams has agreed to pay back $2.5 million to the plan and has to forfeit $653,672.55 to the United States. He now faces a mandatory 2-year prison sentence on the charge of identity theft, and the maximum penalty for health care and wire fraud is 20 years. Other notable former players involved are Sebastian Telfair, Darius Miles, and Glen Davis, but all of them have pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The players of the past fought ever so hard to ensure that those who followed them got benefits like these, which they were themselves never fortunate enough to receive, but these individuals just had to do something like this. Instead of being grateful that they were given this benefit by the league, they got greedy for more, and we hope everyone involved gets their due punishment.
