NEW YORK — A former Utah Jazz player was one of 18 ex-NBA players charged Thursday with defrauding the league's health and welfare benefit plan out of about $4 million.
Milt Palacio, who played one season with the Jazz in 2005-06, was among those named in the indictment. While with the Jazz, Palacio started in 18 of the 71 games he appeared in, scoring 6.2 points per game.
Palacio's season in Utah was his final one as a player in the NBA, having previously played for Vancouver, Boston, Phoenix, Cleveland and Toronto. He was hired in August as an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers.
The indictment said the ex-players and another individual engaged in a widespread scheme to defraud the plan by submitting false and fraudulent claims to reimburse medical and dental expenses that were never incurred.
According to the Associated Press, the scheme occurred from at least 2017 to 2020.
The AP reported that the false claims totaled about $3.9 million, with the 19 defendants allegedly received about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds.
Along with Palacio, the list of former players included Jamario Moon, Glen "Big Baby" Davis, Sebastian Telfair, Terrence Williams, Alan Anderson, Anthony Allen, Desiree Allen, Shannon Brown, William Bynum, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Melvin Ely, Darius Miles, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Gregory Smith, Charles Watson Jr., Antoine Wright, and Anthony Wroten.
