2021-10-07 DOJ SDNY press_release 125 KB 9,772 chars

19 Defendants Charged With Defrauding The National Basketball Association Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan

Caption: United States v. Aggravated Identity Theft, et al.

summary

Terrence Williams and 18 others, including 17 former NBA players and one spouse, were charged with conspiring to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of nearly $4 million by submitting fraudulent claims for unreceived medical services, with Williams orchestrating the scheme, providing fake invoices, receiving $230,000 in kickbacks, and facing aggravated identity theft charges for stealing a plan administrator’s identity.

paragraph

Eighteen former NBA players and one spouse were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud for submitting nearly $4 million in fraudulent reimbursement claims to the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan for medical and dental services never rendered. Terrence Williams, the alleged ringleader, provided co-defendants with falsified provider invoices from California and Washington, received at least $230,000 in kickbacks, and stole the identity of a plan administrator, leading to an additional aggravated identity theft charge carrying a mandatory two-year sentence. The scheme involved using falsified GPS and flight data to conceal that defendants were not near the purported providers on claimed service dates; 16 defendants have been arrested, while three—Anthony Allen, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, and Eddie Robinson—remain at large.

narrative

Terrence Williams and 18 others—including 17 former NBA players and one spouse—were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud for orchestrating a scheme that defrauded the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of nearly $4 million by submitting false claims for medical and dental services never rendered. Williams allegedly led the operation by supplying co-defendants with forged invoices from providers in California and Washington, which they submitted to the plan for reimbursement, while he received at least $230,000 in kickbacks. To conceal the fraud, defendants used falsified GPS and flight data to create the illusion they had received care from distant providers on the dates claimed. Williams was additionally charged with aggravated identity theft for misusing the identity of a plan administrator, a charge carrying a mandatory two-year prison sentence. Of the 19 defendants, 16 were arrested and are scheduled for initial appearances across multiple federal districts, while three—Anthony Allen, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, and Eddie Robinson—remain at large. The investigation, led by the FBI and NYPD Health Care Fraud Task Force, spanned multiple jurisdictions and relied on digital evidence to trace the fraudulent claims. The case, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, underscores a broader federal effort to combat health care fraud targeting employee benefit plans. If convicted, most defendants face up to 20 years in prison, with Williams facing a minimum of two additional years due to the identity theft charge.

Enriched metadata

Scheme: health-care-fraud (100%)
Court: Southern District of New York
Outcome: charged
Victim loss: $230,000

Classified health-care-fraud(confidence 100%). No EDGAR filing fingerprint (criminal/DOJ-side scheme). detection rule →

Extracted insights

Dollar amounts 4

$4.00M $4 million $1M–$10M
$4.00M $4,000,000 $1M–$10M
$2.00M $2 million $1M–$10M
$230K $230,000 $100K–$1M

Entities 15

person aggravated identity theft
person anthony wroten
person audrey strauss
person Dermot Shea
person gregory smith
person jamario moon
person melvin ely
person michael j. driscoll
person ronald glen davis
person ruben patterson
person terrence williams
agency the fbi and u.s. attorney's office
agency U.S. Attorney's Office For The Southern District Of New York
person william bynum
scheme_term wire fraud

Triples 16

U.S. Attorney's Office Charged 19 Defendants
18 Former Players Submitted Nearly $4 million in Fraudulent Reimbursement Claims
Audrey Strauss Announced The Unsealing of an Indictment
Michael J. Driscoll Announced The Charging of 18 Former NBA Players
Dermot Shea Commended The FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office
TERRENCE WILLIAMS Charged With Aggravated Identity Theft
TERRENCE WILLIAMS Charged With Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud
TERRENCE WILLIAMS Charged With Wire Fraud
TERRENCE WILLIAMS Will Be Presented In The Western District of Washington
ANTHONY WROTEN Will Be Presented In The Western District of Washington
RONALD GLEN DAVIS Will Be Presented In The Central District of California
GREGORY SMITH Will Be Presented In The Eastern District of California
RUBEN PATTERSON Will Be Presented In The Northern District of Ohio
JAMARIO MOON Will Be Presented In The Northern District of Alabama
WILLIAM BYNUM Will Be Presented In The Northern District of Alabama
MELVIN ELY Will Be Presented In The Northern District of Alabama

View original DOJ press releasejustice.gov

Extracted body text (9,772c)

Press Release 19 Defendants Charged With Defrauding The National Basketball Association Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan Thursday, October 7, 2021 Share FacebookLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. XLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. LinkedInLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. Email For Immediate Release U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York 18 Former Players of the National Basketball Association and a Spouse of a Former Player Alleged to Have Submitted Nearly $4 million in Fraudulent Reimbursement Claims for Medical Services that They Never Received Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Dermot Shea, Police Commissioner of the City of New York (“NYPD”), announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging TERRENCE WILLIAMS, ALAN ANDERSON, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, a/k/a “Supreme Bey,” MELVIN ELY, JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, EDDIE ROBINSON, GREGORY SMITH, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., ANTOINE WRIGHT, and ANTHONY WROTEN with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud the National Basketball Associations (“NBA’s”) Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of nearly $4,000,000. TERRENCE WILLIAMS is also charged with aggravated identity theft in connection with the same scheme. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “The defendants’ playbook involved fraud and deception. Thanks to the hard work of our law enforcement partners, their alleged scheme has been disrupted and they will have to answer for their flagrant violations of law.” FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll said: “Today we’ve charged 18 former NBA players and one spouse for their alleged participation in a health care fraud scheme that resulted in nearly $2 million in losses to the National Basketball Association’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan. The health care industry loses tens of billions of dollars a year to fraud. Thanks to the work of our dedicated FBI agents and partners alike, cases like this demonstrate our continued focus in uncovering health care fraud scams that harm both the industry and the consumers of their services.” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said: “Today’s federal indictment represents the NYPD’s long-term commitment, working with its law enforcement partners, in making sure those accused of health care related fraud are held accountable. I commend those involved in the investigation, the FBI, and the office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District in New York for its work in ensuring there is justice in this case.” TERRENCE WILLIAMS, ALAN ANDERSON, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, MELVIN ELY, JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., ANTOINE WRIGHT, GREGORY SMITH, and ANTHONY WROTEN were arrested today. WILLIAMS and WROTEN will be presented in the Western District of Washington. DAVIS will be presented in the Central District of California. SMITH will be presented in the Eastern District of California. PATTERSON will presented in the Northern District of Ohio. MOON will be presented in the Northern District of Alabama. BYNUM and ELY will be presented in the Northern District of Illinois. MILES will be presented in the Middle District of Florida. ANDERSON, WATSON, and WRIGHT will be presented in the District of Nevada. BROWN will be presented in the Northern District of Georgia. DESIREE ALLEN will be presented in the Western District of Tennessee. TELFAIR will be presented in the Southern District of New York before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker. ANTHONY ALLEN, DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, and ROBINSON remain at large. As alleged in the Indictment unsealed today[1]: The National Basketball Association Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan (the “Plan”) is a health care plan providing benefits to eligible active and former players of the NBA. From at least in or about 2017, up to and including at least in or about 2020, TERRENCE WILLIAMS, ALAN ANDERSON, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, a/k/a “Supreme Bey,” MELVIN ELY, JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, EDDIE ROBINSON, GREGORY SMITH, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., ANTOINE WRIGHT, and ANTHONY WROTEN engaged in a widespread scheme to defraud the Plan by submitting and causing to be submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement of medical and dental services that were not actually rendered. Over the course of the scheme, the defendants submitted and caused to be submitted to the Plan false claims totaling nearly $4 million. WILLIAMS orchestrated the scheme to defraud the Plan. WILLIAMS recruited other Plan participants to defraud the Plan by offering to provide them with false invoices to support their fraudulent claims. WILLIAMS provided ANDERSON, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, BROWN, BYNUM, DAVIS, DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, ELY, MOON, MILES, PALACIO, PATTERSON, ROBINSON, SMITH, TELFAIR, WATSON, WRIGHT, and WROTEN with false provider invoices, which those defendants then submitted and caused to be submitted to the Plan for reimbursement of fraudulent claims. WILLIAMS provided the other charged defendants fake invoices from a particular Chiropractic Office in California, which were created by individuals working with WILLIAMS. In addition, WILLIAMS obtained fraudulent invoices from a dentist affiliated with dental offices in Beverly Hills, California, and from a doctor at a Wellness Office in Washington State. The fraudulent invoices purported to document that ANDERSON, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, BROWN, BYNUM, DAVIS, DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, ELY, MOON, MILES, PALACIO, PATTERSON, ROBINSON, SMITH, TELFAIR, WATSON, WRIGHT, and WROTEN, and, in some cases, members of their families, had been recipients of expensive medical and dental services. But the defendants had not received the medical or dental services described in the invoices WILLIAMS provided them. In many instances, the defendants were not even located in the vicinity of the service providers on the dates the invoices stated they received medical or dental services. In particular, GPS location information and/or documents, such as flight records, show that the defendants were in locations other than the vicinity of the medical or dental offices falsely claimed as the providers of services. In return for his provision of false supporting documentation for their fraudulent claims, many of the defendants paid WILLIAMS kickbacks, totaling at least approximately $230,000. WILLIAMS also used the personal identifying information of an employee of the Administrative Manager, which managed the Plan, in the course of the fraud scheme. * * * TERRENCE WILLIAMS, ALAN ANDERSON, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, a/k/a “Supreme Bey,” MELVIN ELY, JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, EDDIE ROBINSON, GREGORY SMITH, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., ANTOINE WRIGHT, and ANTHONY WROTEN are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. TERRENCE WILLIAMS is also charged with one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge. Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI/NYPD Health Care Fraud Task Force, which is composed of agents, detectives, and investigators from the FBI, the NYPD, and other law enforcement entities. Ms. Strauss additionally praised the work of the FBI’s Seattle, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Birmingham, Chicago, Sacramento, Memphis, Tampa, Las Vegas, Atlanta, Portland, and Detroit Field Offices. The prosecution of this case is being overseen by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Kristy J. Greenberg and Ryan B. Finkel are in charge of the prosecution. The charges contained in the Indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. [1]Links to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the “external link” icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment, and the description of the Indictment set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation. Contact [email protected] [email protected] (212) 637-2600 Updated October 7, 2021 Topics Financial Fraud Healthcare Fraud Component USAO - New York, Southern Press Release Number: 21-269

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