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Malik Beasley indicted along with fellow ex-NBA player Ed Davis: All we know about illegal sports gambling
Malik Beasley, Ed Davis, and four others were indicted for their involvement in a sports betting operation.
Former NBA athletes Malik Beasley and Ed Davis, along with an NBA agent, are among six people indicted on charges connected to an alleged sports betting operation, ESPN reported, citing a federal indictment made public on Monday.
Davis, along with co-defendants Rob Gorodetsky, Ernesto Plascencia, and William Brown, were taken into custody on Monday, according to a representative from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York. Beasley and defendant Paolo Zamorano, who served as Davis' agent, were not apprehended as of Monday morning.
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Malik Beasley's financial losses
As stated in the indictment, Beasley incurred significant financial losses amounting to millions of dollars due to gambling throughout his nine-year tenure in the NBA. He consented to intentionally underperform and overperform in advance of at least three games during the 2023-24 season while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, enabling his co-conspirators to place bets on his performance statistics, as detailed in the indictment.
Prosecutors assert in the indictment that Beasley accepted bribes from his co-conspirators, which were frequently utilized to settle or diminish debts he owed to Davis. The two players were teammates on the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2020-21 season. According to prosecutors, Davis was referred to as Beasley's "gatekeeper" within the scheme.
"Only way you can beat Vegas is sports betting," Davis wrote in a text sent to Beasley in December 2023, as per the indictment. "...We can make some good money."
Malik Beasley planned to underperform in rebounding
A month later, Beasley notified Davis of his plan to deliberately underperform in rebounding during a game on January 26, 2024, between the Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers, as stated in the indictment.
"[T]he defendants and their co-conspirators placed numerous fraudulent wagers totaling tens of thousands of dollars conditioned on defendant Malik Beasley's 'under rebounds' prop bets," the indictment claims.
Bradley concluded the game with three rebounds, falling short of the betting line of 3.5 rebounds at various sportsbooks.
All on Monday indictment
The indictment issued on Monday does not seem to have a direct link to earlier gambling indictments from the Eastern District of New York, which involved NBA players Jontay Porter, Terry Rozier, and Damon Jones, as reported by various sources.
Challenges faced by Beasely
In recent years, Beasley has faced financial difficulties. Last March, a judge mandated that he pay $1 million to his former agency, which claimed in a lawsuit that Beasley had not repaid a $650,000 marketing advance. Additionally, he was evicted from his high-rise apartment in Detroit last summer after his landlord filed a lawsuit against him for a total of $21,505 in unpaid rent, according to court documents.
The news regarding the federal investigation into Beasley emerged while he was in the process of negotiating a three-year, $42 million contract with the Detroit Pistons last June. Throughout his NBA career, Beasley earned nearly $60 million.
