By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) – Former National Basketball Association players Malik Beasley and Ed Davis have been indicted on gambling-related charges, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday, joining other professional athletes charged with rigging bets on player performance.
• The charges followed a string of cases that have raised concerns about the integrity of sports, amid an explosion of legalized sports betting in the U.S.
• Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said that prior to three separate games in 2024, Beasley told Davis that he intended to overperform or underperform in certain statistical categories such as points or rebounding in exchange for the promise of a bribe.
• Davis then told several co-conspirators of Beasley’s plans, to allow them to place hundreds of thousands of dollars in wagers, many of which were successful, prosecutors said. The co-conspirators were also charged.
• Beasley played for the Milwaukee Bucks at the time. He had earned tens of millions of dollars since starting in the NBA in 2016, but had also accumulated multimillion-dollar gambling losses, prosecutors said.
• Steven Haney, a lawyer for Beasley, said in a statement, “Malik maintains his presumption of innocence throughout this two-year investigation. We ask that people reserve judgment until all the facts are known.”
• Lawyers for Davis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
• NBA spokesman Michael Bass said the league was cooperating with the investigation. “We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority,” he said in a statement.
• Beasley and Davis were teammates on the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2020-2021 season and maintained a close relationship, prosecutors said.
• Both will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn. No date has been set.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
