Former NBA player Glen Davis has been sentenced to 40 months in prison after being convicted of defrauding the NBA Players’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan. Davis, who won a championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008, will also face three years of supervised release and must pay $80,000 in restitution. This case, which became public in October 2021, involved more than 20 defendants, mostly former NBA players, accused of stealing $2.5 million through fraudulent medical and dental claims. The scheme overall netted over $5 million in illicit profits, orchestrated by submitting false claims for chiropractic and dental services that were never provided.
Davis’s co-defendant, William Bynum, was also convicted and received an 18-month prison sentence earlier in April, reflecting the varying degrees of involvement and penalties among the participants. The ringleader, Terrence Williams, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for orchestrating the fraud, including recruiting players and supplying false invoices for non-existent medical procedures.
The sentencing marks a significant conclusion to a notable legal battle against fraud within the sports community, highlighting the broader implications of such actions on the integrity of health care benefit programs and the entities that rely on them.