Glen “Big Baby” Davis is going away for a while.
The former NBA player was sentenced in New York on Thursday to 40 months in prison for his involvement in an alleged $5 million scheme defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan.
Davis was accused by prosecutors of making $27,000 in claims for a dental procedure in Beverly Hills even though he was traveling between Las Vegas and Paris on the day of the operation.
He is one of more than a dozen players who have been charged in the criminal conspiracy.
The players, who earned a combined $360 million during their NBA careers, are said to have submitted “false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement of expenses for medical and dental services that were not actually rendered,” according to a report from Manhattan federal prosecutors in October of 2021.
In August, former New Jersey Nets player Terrance Williams was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he admitted to orchestrating the scheme over a period from 2017-21.
Former Coney Island high school star and ex-Los Angeles Clipper Sebastian Telfair avoided prison for his role in the scam but was given three years probation and was ordered to forfeit more than $350,000 in January.
Ex-NBA player Will Bynum received an 18-month prison sentence and was forced to return $183,000 in April.
“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,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams wrote in a statement after the convictions of Davis and Bynum came down in November.
“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 played eight seasons in the NBA from 2007-15, which included stints with the Celtics, Magic and Clippers.
He came off the bench for Boston during its 2008 NBA title-winning run.