Sebastian Telfair, 17 other retired NBA vets charged with massive health care fraud

Sebastian Telfair is one of 18 retired NBA players charged with defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan.

Once upon a time, Sebastian Telfair was the next big thing in basketball. The Brooklyn native and Lincoln High superstar was set to follow in his cousin Stephon Marbury’s footsteps and take the NBA by storm.

Telfair, 36, ended up playing 10 NBA seasons, but he was never the star people envisioned. Legal issues have followed him throughout his career and he’s in the limelight for the wrong reasons once again.

Telfair is one of 18 former NBA players who have been charged with defrauding the NBA out of $4 million. Tom Winter and Jonathan Dienst of NBC News were the first to break this story.

BREAKING: 18 former NBA players have been arrested and charged federally for defrauding the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of approximately $4,000,000, law enforcement officials say.

Reported by @jonathan4ny
and me.

— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) October 7, 2021

Telfair is the biggest name on this list from a New Yorker’s perspective, but there are plenty of familiar names. Here is the full list of former players charged:

• Milt Palacio
• Sebastian Telfair
• Antoine Wright
• Darius Miles
• Ruben Patterson
• Eddie Robinson
• Gregory Smith
• Glen Davis
• Jamario Moon
• Terrence Williams
• Alan Anderson
• Tony Allen
• Shannon Brown
• William Bynum
• Melvin Ely
• Christopher Douglas-Roberts
• Tony Wroten

This list is a who’s who of random NBA players from the 2000s and 2010s. Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Tony Allen are the two biggest names charged. Big Baby and Allen were a part of that 2008 Boston Celtics squad that won the NBA Finals. Allen was also a six-time All-Defense selection.

According to NBC News, Terrence Williams was the ringleader of the operation, facilitating fraudulent claims for other players in exchange for kickbacks.