Typos, ‘Grammatical Errors’ Revealed NBA Players’ Alleged Fraud Scheme

Some reports about the alleged scheme by several former NBA players to defraud the league’s health insurance program have described Terrence Williams as the alleged “mastermind,” but that seems to be using the term loosely.

The actual details of court documents suggest Williams and the rest of the defendants might not have gotten caught if they simply knew how to write and format a letter, among other minor things.

In attempting to scam nearly $4 million from the NBA Players Health and Welfare Benefit Plan, the players allegedly submitted fake reimbursement invoices that accidentally left the “bill to” box blank or were dated at times the players were known to not be in the country, such as Greg Smith allegedly submitting paperwork for a dental procedure in California while he was playing professionally in Taiwan, according to reports.

“According to court documents, several of the fake invoices and medical necessity forms stood out because, ‘they are not on letterhead, they contain unusual formatting, they have grammatical errors’ and were sent on the same dates from different offices,” WNBC New York reports.

In total, Williams allegedly received about $230,000 in kickbacks for orchestrating the scheme, which encompassed 18 players accused so far — including fellow former Boston Celtics Tony Allen, Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Sebastian Telfair.

Maybe Williams is something of a mastermind after all.