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18 ex-NBA players charged in $4 mn health fraud scheme

AFP

Eighteen former NBA players have been charged with allegedly defrauding the league’s health insurance scheme of almost $4 million, New York prosecutors said Thursday.

The prosecutors accuse Terrence Williams, who played for the New Jersey Nets and Houston Rockets, of orchestrating the fraud, in which they say he received kickbacks totaling $230,000.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who was part of the Boston Celtics side that won the 2008 NBA Championship, and Tony Allen — a six-time NBA All-Defensive Team member — were also charged in the scheme that allegedly ran from at least 2017 to last year.

According to the indictment, the accused defrauded the NBA player’s health and welfare benefit plan by submitting false reimbursement claims for medical and dental services that had not been carried out.

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Prosecutors with the Southern District of New York (SDNY) say Williams recruited other players to the scheme by offering to give them fake invoices to support their fraudulent claims.

He “was the scheme’s linchpin,” lead prosecutor Audrey Strauss told reporters, adding that he tried to intimidate a player who didn’t pay him a kickback by impersonating an employee from the insurance plan.

The indictment alleges that the accused submitted false claims totaling $3.9 million and that the players received about $2.5 million in fraudulent payouts.

Strauss said that in some instances the co-conspirators had submitted false claims for the same root canal treatment on the same teeth on the same day.

The players were all charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud. Williams was also charged with aggravated identity theft.

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Other players charged include former Los Angeles Lakers guard Shannon Brown, Sebastian Telfair, who played for several NBA teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers, and ex-Los Angeles Clippers pick Darius Miles.

Allen’s wife was also charged. Fifteen of the 19 accused were arrested Thursday around the country with Allen, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Gregory Smith and Eddie Robinson still at large, the SDNY said.

Telfair was due to appear in court in New York later Thursday.

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International

Trump warns Hamas that they will be “eradicated” if they break the ceasefire with Israel in Gaza

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, urged Hamas again this Monday to stop the violence and take the terms of the peace plan it promotes with Israel in Gaza, warning that otherwise they could be “eradicated,” although in turn he ruled out the possible presence of soldiers from his country in the Strip.

“We have peace in the Middle East for the first time in history; we reached an agreement with Hamas for which they will be very good, they will behave well and they will be kind. And if not, we will go and we will eradicate them,” the president told the press during a meeting at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Trump clarified, however, that if that happened “there would be no American soldiers on the ground at all” because it would only be enough to ask several of the countries that supported the peace proposal to take charge of the Palestinian militant group: “Israel would intervene in two minutes,” he added.

“I could tell them to intervene (to the countries) and take care of it. But for now, we haven’t said it. We are going to give (Hamas) a small chance and, hopefully, there will be a little less violence,” said the president, whose plan received the support of Arab and European nations during a peace summit in Egypt.

The American insisted that the militant group “has been very violent, but no longer has the support of Iran. He no longer has the support of anyone. They have to behave well, and if they don’t, they will be eradicated,” he repeated.

Israel bombed several points in Gaza on Sunday and killed dozens of people, in response to what it interpreted as a “violation” of the agreement by Hamas, a week after the entry into force of the ceasefire promoted by the Trump Administration.

The bombings took place after clashes in the Rafah area, located in southern Gaza and controlled by the Israeli Army, which left two Israeli soldiers dead.

After these clashes, Israel claimed to have “resumed the application of the ceasefire”. Shortly after, Trump assured for his part that the truce “is still in force.”

The Republican president had already threatened last week to “kill” Hamas members if they did not comply with the ceasefire agreement with Israel and “continue to kill in Gaza.”

The militant group has mobilized in Gaza to regain control after the start of the ceasefire in the Strip, which has meant the withdrawal of Israeli troops from half of the territory. In the midst of this tense situation, there have also been clashes between Hamas and other local militias.

Several videos show summary executions of people whom Palestinian militants accuse of collaborating with Israel, which according to local sources, have occurred in Gaza City.

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Trump files $15 billion defamation suit against The New York Times

U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a $15 billion defamation and libel lawsuit against The New York Times, which denounced the legal move on Tuesday as an attempt to silence the press.

In this new stage of his presidency, the 79-year-old Republican leader has escalated his long-standing hostility toward traditional media, repeatedly attacking critical journalists, limiting their access, or taking them to court.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Florida, seeks $15 billion in damages, along with additional punitive compensation “in an amount to be determined at trial.”

The New York Times had reported last week that Trump threatened legal action over articles concerning a birthday letter allegedly sent by him to financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The letter featured a typed message inside the outline of a nude woman. Trump denies that the accompanying signature is his.

“For too long, The New York Times has been allowed to lie, defame, and slander me freely — and that ends NOW!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

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Maduro warns Venezuela would enter armed struggle if attacked by foreign forces

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stated on Friday that if his country were attacked, it would enter a phase of armed struggle, amid his claims of “threats” from the United States, which is conducting a military deployment in Caribbean waters near Venezuela’s coast under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.

Maduro emphasized that Venezuela is currently in the non-armed phase, which he described as political, communicational, and institutional, but added that if the country were somehow aggressed, it would move to a planned, organized armed struggle involving the entire population, whether the threat is local, regional, or national.

“We would enter a stage of armed struggle, in defense of peace, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and our people,” Maduro said during an event activating citizen militias, broadcast on state channel Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).

He also noted that Venezuela is currently in a phase of readiness and preparation to defend the country and will proceed to the deployment of defensive capacities, including training and retraining of the entire Venezuelan population.

Maduro described the Venezuelan people as pacifist yet warrior-like, asserting that “no one will enslave us, neither today nor ever.”

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