Former NBA player Terrence Williams plead guilty to a massive scheme to defraud the league and received an enormous sentence.
Ex-NBA player Terrence Williams was sentenced to jail time in the extensive fraud scheme targeting the NBA health and welfare benefit plan. Williams was initially charged in 2021, along with several other co-conspirators including 18 former NBA players — Tony Wroten, Shannon Brown, and Glen Davis among them.
Williams had pled guilty last year and was given a 10-year prison sentence along with $3.1 million in fines and restitution. According to authorities, he was the ringleader of the scheme and U.S. attorney Damian Williams didn't mince words in a statement at the sentencing (h/t CBS Sports):
"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."
Williams played college basketball at Louisville and was selected with the No. 11 pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. He played 153 games across four seasons, for the Nets, Rockets, Kings and Celtics.
What happened to the other NBA players involved in the Terrence Williams scheme?
Several of the other cases connected to this scheme have already been resolved. Tony Wroten, Tony Allen, Shannon Brown, Eddie Robinson and Jamario Moon all pled guilty and avoided jail time but were hit with significant fines. Keyon Dooling and Alan Anderson pled guilty and were sentenced to 30 and 24 months in prison, respectively. Chris Douglas-Roberts, Sebastian Telfair, Will Bynum, have pled guilty but information about their sentencing was not available at the time of this writing.
Melvin Ely, Ruben Patterson, Greg Smith and Antoine Wright were also charged but don't appear to have resolved their cases at this point.