Ex-NBA player Terrence Williams pleads guilty in fraud case
NEW YORK –
Former NBA participant Terrence Williams has pleaded responsible to conspiring to commit well being care fraud and id theft in connection to a multimillion-dollar rip-off towards the basketball league’s well being plan, authorities mentioned.
Williams, 35, entered his plea in federal court docket in Manhattan on Friday. He’s scheduled to be sentenced in January, and faces a most of 20 years in jail for the conspiracy cost, and a compulsory minimal of two years in jail for the id theft.
An electronic mail in search of remark was despatched to his lawyer.
Williams was accused of being the chief of the scheme, which consisted of fraudulent claims and paperwork being submitted to the league’s plan for medical and dental reimbursements.
He and 17 different former gamers have been charged in an indictment in October 2021, and authorities mentioned no less than US$5 million in false claims have been submitted to the plan between 2017 and 2021.
Damian Williams, the U.S. Lawyer for the Southern District of New York, mentioned Terrence Williams ran the scheme and recruited others to be a part of it, giving them pretend paperwork to submit.
Authorities mentioned Williams obtained no less than US$300,000 in kickbacks from the others for his efforts.
In conditions the place others concerned balked, authorities mentioned Williams pretended to be different folks and threatened them so as to achieve compliance.
The previous participant had been on pretrial launch however was remanded into custody earlier this yr, with authorities telling a decide he had threatened a witness.
As part of the plea settlement, Williams can pay US$2.5 million in restitution to the plan and forfeit over US$650,000 to the federal authorities.
