Former Sixer Tony Wroten among 18 ex-NBA players charged in $4M health care fraud scheme

Former 76er Tony Wroten is among 18 former NBA players charged with defrauding the league health and welfare benefit plan out of around $4 million.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Sebastain Telfair, Tony Allen, and Darius Miles are also among the 18 players charged.

Federal prosecutors planned a news conference to describe the case that was brought in Manhattan federal court. It wasn’t immediately clear whether all those charged had been arrested.

According to the indictment, the ex-players engaged in a widespread scheme to defraud the plan by submitting false and fraudulent claims to get reimbursed for medical and dental expenses that were never incurred.

The 18 players were among 19 individuals charged in the indictment. It said that the scheme was carried out from at least 2017 to 2020, when the plan received false claims totaling about $3.9 million. Of that, the defendants received about $2.5 million in fraudulent proceeds.

Wroten’s time is Philly lasted less than three seasons. He averaged 13.8 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.1 turnovers in 110 games with the Sixers with 34 starts.

The Sixers acquired him from the Memphis Grizzlies for a protected second-round pick on Aug. 22, 2013. They waived him on Dec. 24, 2015.

The Sixers cut the backup point guard on Christmas Eve in order to create a roster spot to complete a trade for Ish Smith from the New Orleans Pelicans.

Wroten had averaged 8.4 points, 2.5 assists, and 3.6 turnovers in eight games that season after being sidelined for 10½ months due to a partially torn right anterior cruciate ligament. His best season with the Sixers came in 2014-15 when he averaged a career-high 16.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.