Ex-NBA player Terrence Williams pleads guilty to fraud charges


NEW YORK –

Former NBA player Terrence Williams has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit healthcare fraud and identity theft in connection with a multimillion-dollar scam against the basketball league’s healthcare plan, authorities said.

Williams, 35, filed his plea in federal court in Manhattan on Friday. He is due to be sentenced in January and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for conspiracy and a minimum of two years in prison for identity theft.

An email was sent to his attorney for comment.

Williams was accused of being the leader of the program, which consisted of fraudulent claims and paperwork submitted to the league’s medical and dental reimbursement plan.

He and 17 other former players were charged in an October 2021 indictment, and authorities said at least $5 million in false claims was filed for the plan between 2017 and 2021.

Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Terrence Williams ran the program and recruited others to participate and gave them forged paperwork to file.

Authorities said Williams received at least $300,000 in bribes from the others for his efforts.

In situations where others involved refused, authorities said Williams posed as other people and threatened them in order to obtain compliance.

The former player was on pre-trial parole but was remanded in custody earlier this year when authorities told a judge he had threatened a witness.

As part of the plea agreement, Williams will pay $2.5 million in reimbursement to the plan and forfeit over $650,000 to the federal government.