On Wednesday, Utah Jazz assistant coach and former National Basketball Players Association vice president Keyon Dooling was arrested for allegedly taking part in an illegal scheme.
Dooling, who was a union officer for eight years and eventually became its first vice president, was among three individuals added to the indictment.
The rewritten indictment added Dooling to the case first brought in October, when federal officials said a number of former NBA players combined to collect about $2.5 million from the benefit plan.
Moreover, 18 other former NBA players were charged with illegally pocketing millions of dollars by defrauding the league’s health and welfare benefit plan.
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According to an ESPN report, everyone arrested has been charged with health care fraud and wire conspiracy, Dooling is accused of making around $350,000 from the scheme.
Utah Jazz organization said in a statement:
“It is a case concerning his time at the National Basketball Players Association, prior to him joining our organization. He has been put on paid administrative leave. Due to the ongoing legal process, we will refrain from further comment.”
Jazz assistant, and former NBA player, Keyon Dooling has been charged by DOJ (US Southern District) with participating in a scheme to defraud NBA’s Health and Welfare Benefit Plan “out of at least approximately $5 million,” along with 18 others. This is part of the indictment: pic.twitter.com/lCm27ijKQU
— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) April 27, 2022
Daily Caller commented further:
As always, Dooling has the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. That’s our system here and we should all be thankful for it. Having said that, these are incredibly serious federal charges. If there’s one thing we know about billionaires, they don’t like when people come after their money.
Utah Jazz assistant Keyon Dooling has been put on paid administrative leave, due to a legal case pending from his time with the NBA Players Association
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) April 27, 2022
The outlet noted:
The NFL had a similar scandal unfold and it resulted in people going to prison. If the former NBA players accused of defrauding the league are found guilty, you’d have to imagine the consequences would be similar.
Hopefully, the authorities can get to the bottom of what happened and deal with it appropriately. For the time being, it sounds like Dooling might be in some serious trouble.
The Utah Jazz have placed Keyon Dooling on administrative leave after he was charged earlier today by federal officials as allegedly being part of a scheme to defraud the NBA’s health and welfare benefit plan out of approximately $5 million.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) April 27, 2022
Sources: DailyCaller, ESPN
