Former NBA player Glen Davis has been found guilty for his role in a wide-ranging scheme to defraud the NBA's alumni welfare and healthcare policy. Nicknamed "Big Baby", Davis is best known for his time as a role player on the late 2000s Celtics. The Celtics acquired Davis' draft rights in 2007 alongside those of Ray Allen. Davis was out of the league by 2015, re-emerging in Canada for a season later in the decade.
However, Davis was part of a ring of nearly 20 former players who made millions from fraudulent healthcare expense claims. These were made against the league's fund that provides healthcare to former players. According to sports CPA Robert Raiola, Davis was found guilty of "health care fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to make false statements, and conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud."
Davis Co-Conspirator Gets 10 Years In Prison
Davis will be sentenced next year. However, penal sentences are already starting to be handed down in the case. Terrence Williams, the 11th pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "masterminding" the plan. Williams and Davis are just two of 18 former players charged in the case. 13 have pled guilty, with Williams the first to be given a penal sentence. Davis and Williams never played together during their respective tenures in the NBA.
“You were yet another player who frittered away substantial earnings from the period of time when you were playing basketball professionally,” Judge Valerie E. Caproni told Williams during sentencing. “You should have had enough money to be set for life, but you don’t.” While many of the former players in the case were journeymen, their career earnings still totaled $343 million. “I one million percent take full accountability for my role in this case,” Williams said, choking up as he blamed the scheme on "stupidity and greed." However, Judge Caproni was unsympathetic, stating that Williams used his big personality to "lure" friends and family into the scheme.
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