Former Detroit Piston guard Malik Beasley and his former Minnesota Timberwolves teammate Ed Davis are among the six men indicted by a grand injury in New York for game-fixing-related crimes where the players allegedly defrauded the NBA and sports betting companies in 2023 and 2024.
A sealed indictment dated June 24 was unsealed on Monday, with U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. laying out the accusations. The charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges collectively threaten prison sentences in the decades.
The indictment says, “although Beasley earned tens of millions of dollars during his NBA career,” he “had also accumulated multimillion-dollar gambling losses.”
The core allegation is that Beasley and others orchestrated a scheme to influence NBA games by bribery and used non-public information to further bets and then launder the proceeds. Beasley is also described as owing money to Davis, who allegedly loaned money to Beasley at different points.
Beasley, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks during the relevant period for the prosecution, is portrayed as central to the scheme. The Justice Department contends the guard conspired in advance of NBA games “to underperform, and at times overperform,” with the conspirators placing prop bets on Beasley’s performance knowing in advance he would allegedly play to ensure the bets won. Beasley, for his part, allegedly received bribes to pay off his debts.
