U.S. Attorney Announces Charges Against A Doctor, Dentist, And Former NBA Player For Defrauding The NBA Players’ Health And Welfare Benefit Plan

 

Dr. William Washington, Aamir Wahab, DDS, and Keyon Dooling Were Charged Along With 16 Others in a Scheme to Defraud the NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan

 Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the unsealing of a Superseding Indictment charging TERRENCE WILLIAMS, AAMIR WAHAB, WILLIAM WASHINGTON, ALAN ANDERSON, KEYON DOOLING, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, a/k/a “Supreme Bey,” JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, EDDIE ROBINSON, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., and ANTHONY WROTEN with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud the National Basketball Association’s (“NBA’s”) Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of at least approximately $5 million.  TERRENCE WILLIAMS and ALAN ANDERSON are also charged with aggravated identity theft in connection with the same scheme.  TERRENCE WILLIAMS, ALAN ANDERSON, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, a/k/a “Supreme Bey,” JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, EDDIE ROBINSON, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., and ANTHONY WROTEN were charged in a prior Indictment and arrested, or surrendered, in October 2021.  AAMIR WAHAB and WILLIAM WASHINGTON, both medical providers who allegedly facilitated the scheme, and KEYON DOOLING, a former NBA player who allegedly engaged in the scheme and recruited other co-conspirators to join the scheme, were added as defendants to the charged health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy.  WAHAB, WASHINGTON, and DOOLING were arrested today.  WASHINGTON will be presented in the Western District of Washington.  WAHAB will be presented in the Central District of California.  DOOLING will be presented in the District of Utah.  The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Valerie E. Caproni.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “Today’s unsealing of additional charges in this case shows my office will investigate, and where appropriate charge, individuals involved in fraud schemes including medical providers who abuse their positions to defraud others.  I thank our law enforcement partners in the FBI for their hard work uncovering more details of the defendants’ alleged pervasive scheme to attempt to defraud the NBA Health and Welfare Benefit Plan out of at least approximately $5,000,000.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll said:  “Today we’re charging additional defendants in this health care fraud scheme who attempted to defraud the National Basketball Association’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan of at least approximately $5,000,000. Health care fraud causes serious problems for both the industry and consumers alike, and results in losses of tens of billions of dollars a year to fraud. Thanks to the work of our dedicated FBI agents and partners who continue to work tirelessly on this case.”

As alleged in the Superseding Indictment unsealed today[1]:

The National Basketball Association Players’ Health and Welfare Benefit Plan (the “Plan”) is a health care plan providing benefits to eligible active and former players of the NBA.  From at least in or about 2017, up to and including at least in or about 2021, TERRENCE WILLIAMS, AAMIR WAHAB, WILLIAM WASHINGTON, ALAN ANDERSON, KEYON DOOLING, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, a/k/a “Supreme Bey,” JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, EDDIE ROBINSON, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., and ANTHONY WROTEN engaged in a widespread scheme to defraud the Plan by submitting and causing to be submitted fraudulent claims for reimbursement of medical and dental services that were not actually rendered.  Over the course of the scheme, the defendants submitted and caused to be submitted to the Plan false claims totaling at least approximately $5 million.

TERRENCE WILLIAMS orchestrated the scheme to defraud the Plan.  WILLIAMS recruited other Plan participants to defraud the Plan by offering to provide them with false invoices to support their fraudulent claims.  AAMIR WAHAB, a dentist in California, and WILLIAM WASHINGTON, a doctor in Washington State, provided WILLIAMS with fraudulent invoices that WILLIAMS sent to other co-conspirators.  WILLIAMS, ALAN ANDERSON, and KEYON DOOLING each recruited other Plan participants to defraud the Plan by offering to supply them with false invoices to support their false and fraudulent claims to the Plan in exchange for payments to WILLIAMS and DOOLING.  DOOLING also obtained fraudulent invoices from WAHAB, and others, which he used to submit his own fraudulent claims; based on those claims, DOOLING himself fraudulently obtained approximately $350,000 of Plan proceeds. 

As described in the Superseding Indictment, WAHAB exchanged text messages with both WILLIAMS and DOOLING about the scheme.

For example, in or about March 2019, WILLIAMS requested that WAHAB produce additional fraudulent invoices, but WAHAB was hesitant to do so because they were having trouble collecting kickbacks from co-conspirators.  WILLIAMS appeared to be upset and messaged WAHAB, in substance and in part, “YOUVE MADE THOUSANDS OF F[---]ING DOLLARS TO PRINT A INVOICE WITH A NAME AT THE TOP like you f[---]ing kidding me[?]  We not gonna act like you doing dental work.”  WILLIAMS also sent WAHAB messages containing the names, dates, and amounts to be listed on the fraudulent invoices.

In or about April 2018, WAHAB and DOOLING exchanged messages about the creation of fraudulent invoices for another former-NBA player.  On or about April 30, 2018, WAHAB and DOOLING continued their discussion:

DOOLING:     Let’s make this thing grow sir.

WAHAB:        Lol I’m down bro[.]  Get me the whole NBA [laughing emoji]

DOOLING:     Yes we will[.] 

DOOLING also messaged with another co-conspirator about transferring proceeds obtained from a transaction in the scheme.  Specifically, on or about June 28, 2019, DOOLING messaged that co-conspirator and stated, in substance and in part, “Hey bro, here’s the breakdown: 5600 for you and me. Then 10800 for the guy. I fronted him 4200$ so you can put it with my 5600= 9800 to My [bank account information]. . . .  That way everything is under 10k.”

The Plan also enabled eligible participants to use a Plan-issued debit card (the “Plan Debit Card”) to pay for eligible medical services and products at the point of service.  WILLIAM WASHINGTON charged, and caused others to charge, the Plan Debit Cards of two co-conspirators for approximately $436,126.  WILLIAMS also exchanged messages with WASHINGTON about WASHINGTON’s creation of fraudulent invoices in furtherance of the scheme.  For example: 

WILLIAMS:  You have the card reader I have the [Plan Debit C]ards. Let’s work together . . . .  Give me the bread I’ll get it to them.  You still swiping.  You getting your money back. . . . you gonna owe me.  Ok.

WASHINGTON:  We owe each other lol. . . . 

To verify that certain services were medically necessary, the Plan sometimes requires participants to submit a letter of medical necessity from a medical provider establishing that necessity of the provided services.  WILLIAMS fraudulently created, and transferred letters of medical necessity for three co-conspirators.  ANDERSON also counseled, aided, and induced at least one co-conspirator to submit a forged letter of medical necessity to the Plan.  These letters were unusual in several respects: they were not on letterhead, contained unusual formatting, had grammatical errors, and one of the letters misspelled a purported patient’s name. 

TERRENCE WILLIAMS, AAMIR WAHAB, WILLIAM WASHINGTON, ALAN ANDERSON, KEYON DOOLING, ANTHONY ALLEN, DESIREE ALLEN, SHANNON BROWN, WILLIAM BYNUM, RONALD GLEN DAVIS, CHRISTOPHER DOUGLAS-ROBERTS, a/k/a “Supreme Bey,” JAMARIO MOON, DARIUS MILES, MILTON PALACIO, RUBEN PATTERSON, EDDIE ROBINSON, SEBASTIAN TELFAIR, CHARLES WATSON JR., and ANTHONY WROTEN are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  TERRENCE WILLIAMS is also charged with two counts of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison to run consecutively to any other sentence imposed.  ALAN ANDERSON is also charged with one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison to run consecutively to any other sentence imposed. 

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI.  In addition to the New York Field Office, Mr. Williams praised the work of the Seattle, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City field offices.

The charges contained in the Superseding Indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

[1] As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Superseding Indictment, and the description of the Superseding Indictment set forth herein, constitute only allegations, and every fact described should be treated as an allegation.