NEW YORK — Former Memphis Grizzlies star Tony Allen was arraigned Tuesday in Federal Court in the Southern District of New York on charges that he and seventeen other former NBA players defrauded the league's health care plan.
Allen entered a not guilty plea after voluntarily surrendering to authorities.
He was then released on a $500,000 personal recognizance bond. Conditions of his release include travel restrictions to the Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, Western District of Tennessee and the Central District of California. Allen was also ordered to surrender all travel documents. He also can't have contact with any co-defendants except for his wife.
Allen's wife, Desiree Allen, was also charged in the scheme. She has yet to be arraigned.
Co-defendants Sebastian Telfair and Eddie Robinson also pleaded not guilty.
According to the indictment, the ex-players engaged in a widespread scheme to defraud the plan by submitting false and fraudulent claims to get reimbursed for medical and dental expenses that were never actually incurred.
The list of other former players included former Grizzly Tony Wroten, and former Tiger Christopher Douglas Roberts, Terrence Williams, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Darius Miles, Alan Anderson, Shannon Brown, Will Bynum, Melvin Ely, Milton Palacio, Ruben Patterson, Greg Smith, Charles Watson, and Antoine Wright.
The 18 players were among 19 individuals (the 19th being Desiree Allen) charged in the indictment. It said that the scheme was carried out from at least 2017 to 2020, when the plan received false claims totaling about $3.9 million. Of that, the defendants received about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds.