Basketball: Ex-NBA players get jail time for league health care scam

Darius Miles, who now plays with the Alabama Crimson Tide, was among a group of people who have pleaded not guilty to the charges. PHOTO: AFP

WASHINGTON - Two former National Basketball Association (NBA) players will spend years in federal prison after admitting to participating in a plan to defraud the league’s health care plan with false claims for medical and dental expenses.

Keyon Dooling, 42, who played for seven teams over 13 years in the NBA, was sentenced on Friday to 30 months in prison.

That comes after Alan Anderson, 40, who suited up for five teams over a span of 12 years, got two years in prison on Feb 10.

Dooling is a former vice-president of the NBA players’ association and, at the time of his arrest, was an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz.

The two were added last year to a case prosecutors first filed in 2021 against a group of people including ex-NBA players Sebastian Telfair, Darius Miles and Glen “Big Baby” Davis. Those three have pleaded not guilty.

The alleged leader of the scheme, former player Terrence Williams, pleaded guilty in August to recruiting other participants and giving them false invoices provided by a dentist in California, a doctor in Washington state and several non-medical professionals. BLOOMBERG

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