Ex-NBA player Davis gets 40 months for fraud
Former NBA player Glen “Big Baby” Davis was ordered to spend more than three years behind bars for participating in a scheme to defraud the league’s health care plan out of millions of dollars.
Davis was sentenced Thursday to 40 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. The former
Boston Celtics big man was among the biggest names implicated in the scandal, which involved more than a dozen explayers. Prosecutors said they made false claims for medical and dental procedures that they never received.
A jury convicted Davis and another former player, Will Bynum, in November. Bynum was sentenced to 18 months in prison last month.
Davis won a title with the Celtics in 2008 and played for several other teams during his career.
A number of other players charged in the scandal pleaded guilty rather than go to trial. The ringleader of the scheme, Terrence Williams, the 11th overall pick in the 2009 draft, was sentenced in August to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Williams recruited other explayers, forged signatures, impersonated health-plan employees and enlisted doctors to create fake letters to justify procedures, receiving at least $300,000 in kickbacks.
Other notable participants include Sebastian Telfair, a former New York City streetball legend chosen in the first round of the 2004 NBA draft, and Darius Miles, the third overall pick in the 2000 draft. Both pleaded guilty, and Telfair was sentenced to three years’ probation in January.
The case is US v. Williams, 21-cr-00603, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).