Former NBA player sentenced to 10 years in prison for defrauding league's health benefit plan

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The United States Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that former NBA player Terrence Williams has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan out of more than $5 million. 

Williams has been incarcerated in Brooklyn since the spring of 2022 after he threatened witnesses in his case. 

Williams, who played for the New Jersey Nets, Houston Rockets, Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics in his career, pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud, as well as aggravated identity theft. 

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Terrence Williams, #17 of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, moves up the court past Pierre Jackson, #11 of the Idaho Stampede, during a break in an NBA D-League game on Jan. 31, 2014 at CenturyLink Arena in Boise, Idaho. (Otto Kitsinger/NBAE via Getty Images)

"Williams led a wide-ranging scheme to steal millions of dollars from the NBA Players' Health and Welfare Benefit Plan," U.S. attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. "Williams recruited medical professionals and others to expand his criminal conspiracy and maximize his ill-gotten gains. Williams not only lined his pockets through fraud and deceit, but he also stole the identities of others and threatened a witness to further his criminal endeavors. For his brazen criminal acts, Williams now faces years in prison."

The health and welfare benefit plan provides benefits to eligible active and former players in the NBA as well as family members. However, Williams abused this plan from "at least 2017 through at least 2021," as he created a scheme that involved "more than a