DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN – SIX MEN, INCLUDING two former professional basketball players, were indicted in Brooklyn federal court on Monday over an alleged scheme to manipulate sports betting outcomes, Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced.
Former National Basketball Association players Malik Beasley and Edward Davis, along with co-conspirators William Brown, Robert Gorodetsky, Ernesto Plascencia and current NBA player agent Paolo Zamorano, are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Each man faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for the wire fraud, 20 years for the money laundering and five years for the bribery.
Beasley, a player for the Milwaukee Bucks, allegedly planned with his teammate Davis to under- or overperform during games, relative to his betting statistics. Beasley was allegedly bribed for this by having gambling debts to Davis reduced.
Bucks games cited as allegedly rigged include a Jan. 26, 2024 game versus the Cleveland Cavaliers, where Beasley allegedly underperformed on rebounds; a Feb. 27, 2024 game versus the Charlotte Hornets, where he allegedly underperformed on points and overperformed on rebounds; and a March 10, 2024 game versus the Los Angeles Clippers, where he allegedly overperformed on rebounds.
Davis allegedly disseminated these decisions to the rest of the group, who used them to place hundreds of thousands in bets on Beasley’s game performance..
The new charges come as part of a wide-ranging EDNY investigation into illegal gambling connected with the NBA, which has already seen the arrests of multiple players and ex-players, including former Knicks star Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat player Terry Rozier.
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