Former NBA Player Sebastian Telfair Pleads Guilty to NBA Insurance Fraud Scam

Sebastian Telfair, the high school basketball star who never fulfilled his potential during his nomadic NBA career, pleaded guilty Wednesday to his role in submitting false claims in an effort to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan.

According to Bloomberg, Telfair is one of several NBA players who intended to defraud the league’s health care plan.

The 37-year-old former New York City high school standout played for a number of NBA teams during his career. Telfair is the latest former player to be convicted for providing false invoices in order to receive kickbacks from others involved in the scheme.

He was one of 18 former NBA players charged in the scheme. The other players involved in the scam were Milt Palacio, Antoine Wright, Charles Watson, 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, and Tony Wroten.

Williams, the alleged leader of the plot, pleaded guilty last August. He admitted to recruiting other people and supplying them with fake invoices that were provided by a California dentist, a doctor in Washington state, and several non-medical professionals in exchange for kickbacks.

While in court on Wednesday, Telfair said he participated in the plan because he needed the money to pay for a divorce and for attorneys who were hired for a previous criminal case. Telfair was previously given a 3 1/2 year prison sentence for possession of a weapon after police discovered weapons in a truck during a traffic stop in June. A New York appeals court upheld his sentence last October.

“I needed the money for my legal fees,” Telfair told US District Judge Valerie Caproni at his plea hearing Wednesday. “I was accused of a crime I didn’t commit. I was fighting for my life. I am still fighting for my life.”

Telfair, the cousin of another former NBA player, Stephon Marbury, faces up to 20 years in prison. He’ll be sentenced August 1.