Glen Davis, Other Former NBA Players Face Prison Time
Glen “Big Baby” Davis as well as Will Bynum are facing prison time after being convicted by a Manhattan Jury Wednesday for wire fraud and health care fraud.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams released a statement regarding the convictions:
“Moments ago, a Manhattan jury convicted former NBA players Ronald Glen Davis and William Bynum of a criminal scheme to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan. While many of the more than 20 defendants convicted in this case were well-known NBA stars, their conduct was otherwise a typical fraudulent scheme designed to defraud the NBA’s health care plan and net the defendants over $5 million in illicit profits. Today’s conviction exemplifies that despite notoriety or success in sports or any other field, no one is exempt from criminal charges if they engage in fraud.”
Davis and Bynum were indicted on these charges back in 2021, along with 18 others. Everyone faced counts of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.
The people involved were submitting reimbursement claims for procedures that never happened and reportedly made roughly $5 million. These crimes are serious felonies in the state of New York; wire fraud can carry a 20-year sentence and health care fraud is punishable up to 10 years.
The original ringleader of this scheme was NBA player Terrence Williams. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison in August, along with two others who were given lighter sentences.
It’s tough to see more former athletes go downhill after retirement. It feels all too common nowadays for them to be in the media for the wrong reasons. On the other hand, you would think that people in the public eye would have more common sense than this.
Getting away with crimes as a famous person isn’t always easy, and at times, an example will be made out of them. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for Davis and the others involved–sentencing will be given out soon, and it probably won’t be pretty.
