Federal prosecutors unsealed a Brooklyn indictment on June 29 charging former NBA guard Malik Beasley, former player Edward Davis, player agent Paolo Zamorano and three other defendants in an alleged betting, bribery and money-laundering scheme.
The charges include wire fraud conspiracy, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. The indictment says the group bribed Beasley to shape his on-court performance and used non-public information about that performance to place wagers.
According to the Justice Department, Beasley agreed in advance with Davis that he would underperform, and at times overperform, in certain betting statistics. Prosecutors say the bribes usually took the form of Beasley’s gambling debts to Davis being reduced or paid off.
The Los Angeles Times reported that prosecutors described Davis as Beasley’s “gatekeeper” and said the alleged collaboration reached back to the 2020-21 season, when the two were Minnesota Timberwolves teammates, before resuming during Beasley’s time with Milwaukee.
Several defendants were arrested across the country and are due to be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York later.
The indictment focuses on games during the 2023-24 season, including the Milwaukee Bucks’ meetings with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 26, the Charlotte Hornets on Feb. 27 and the Los Angeles Clippers on March 10. ESPN reported the case covers at least four games in all.
For the Jan. 26 Bucks-Cavaliers game, prosecutors say Beasley told Davis beforehand that he would underperform in rebounding. One example described in reporting on the indictment involved bets of $21,228 that produced a profit of $14,013.88 for a co-conspirator.
For the Feb. 27 Bucks-Hornets game, prosecutors allege Beasley signalled that he would underperform in points and overperform in rebounding. For the March 10 Bucks-Clippers game, they say he indicated that he would overperform in rebounding.
ABC7NY reported that in the Clippers example Beasley grabbed a rebound in the final seconds even though the game outcome was already decided, and a co-conspirator later texted, “What’s funny is after he got it he had a big sigh of relief.”
The indictment says Davis relayed the non-public information to Gorodetsky, Plascencia, Zamorano and Brown, and that Plascencia then passed it on to Brown so fraudulent wagers could be placed. Prosecutors say many of the wagers placed around the Jan. 26 game were successful.
Prosecutors said the group placed fraudulent wagers totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. ESPN reported the indictment described wagers of more than $75,000 with net winnings of at least $121,000.
Beasley’s lawyer, Steve Haney, said an indictment is “nothing but a probable cause one-sided charging document” and that Beasley maintains his presumption of innocence.
