Former NBA player Glen Davis was released from prison Thursday after serving 17 months of a 40-month sentence following a November 2023 conviction for his involvement in a scheme to defraud the league’s healthcare plan.
Davis and fellow NBA player Will Bynum were convicted by a Manhattan jury in 2023 for filing false reimbursement claims to the NBA’s health and welfare benefit plan for medical care and procedures that were not actually performed. The two were among 19 people indicted, 18 of them former NBA players, including Tony Allen, Terrence Williams, Shannon Brown, Melvin Ely, Sebastian Telfair and Keyon Dooling.
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Bynum, an eight-year NBA veteran, was sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2024 and ordered to pay $183,000 in restitution.
Those involved in the defrauding scheme gained over $5 million in illicit profits, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of New York. Davis submitted $132,000 worth of claims, including $27,200 worth of dental work in Beverly Hills. Authorities were able to prove he was actually in Las Vegas at the time based on cellphone data, USA Today reported.
Davis was eventually convicted of health care fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to make false statements and conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud. He faced up to 20 years in prison.
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Additionally, Davis was ordered to pay $80,000 in restitution. His prison sentence was delayed by six months so that he could finish filming a documentary that would allow him to pay that penalty. Davis was also ordered to attend a financial management class and mandatory drug treatment.
“He used his time productively while serving his sentence and took many programs during that time,” attorney Brendan White told The Athletic. “He’s ready to become a productive member of society again.”
Davis will enter a halfway house at the Long Beach Residential Reentry Management Office to transition from being in prison to everyday life. From there, he will face three years of supervised release.
Davis played eight seasons in the NBA, averaging eight points and 4.4 rebounds per game with the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Clippers. His best season was 2012-13, when he averaged 15.1 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists for the Magic.
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A 2007 second-round pick out of LSU, Davis was a member of the Celtics’ 2008 NBA championship team and finished fourth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2011-12.