Feds bring fraud charges against 18 former NBA players, including a one-time San Antonio Spur

Eighteen former NBA players, including one-time San Antonio Spur Melvin Ely, have been charged with perpetrating a $4 million fraud against the league’s health plan, the Associated Press reports.

In an indictment filed Thursday in New York, federal prosecutors accuse the former players of ripping off the plan by submitting fraudulent reimbursement claims for medical and dental expenses they never incurred, the AP reports.

Ely, a Chicago-area native, won a title with San Antonio in 2007. That was the only year he played for the Silver and Black. His NBA career spanned 2002 through 2015, after which he did a three-year stint as assistant coach for NBA G League team the Cleveland Charge.

Former New Jersey Nets draft pick Terrence Williams created the scheme, the AP reports, citing the indictment. At least 10 of the former players paid at total of $230,000 in kickbacks to Williams, according to the feds' allegations.

A lawyer who has represented Williams in the past declined comment to the AP.

At press time Thursday morning, 16 of the defendants were in custody, authorities told the AP.

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