Malik Beasley has been indicted by federal prosecutors in New York on sports gambling charges, with former NBA center Ed Davis also facing indictment in the same case, according to reporting from Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney, said his client is dealing with sports betting, money laundering and wire fraud charges and that they “look forward to defending all charges.”
According to prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Beasley and Davis became close when they were teammates on the 2020/21 Timberwolves and later worked together to manipulate Beasley’s play in four NBA games for betting purposes while Beasley was with the Bucks in the 2023/24 season.
The government says Beasley was carrying millions in gambling losses and joined the alleged scheme with Davis and three other people, including former NBA agent Paolo Zamorano, in an effort to cover that debt.
One text message cited by prosecutors came from Davis about a month before the first game in question, a Bucks/Cavaliers matchup on January 26, 2024. In that message, Davis allegedly told Beasley, “Only way you can beat Vegas is sports betting,” and added, “Everything else they got the edge.”
The other games identified by prosecutors were on February 27 against the Hornets, March 10 against the Clippers and March 21 against the Nets. In the January 26 game, Beasley attempted only two field goals and scored three points, and investigators say the group wagered thousands of dollars on that contest.
Prosecutors also say the group bet the over on Beasley’s rebounds line of 3.5 in the Clippers game and celebrated when he secured his fourth rebound in the final seconds. The plan, however, allegedly fell apart in the Nets game, when the group bet the under on his rebounds and Beasley finished with six.
Beasley, a high-volume three-point shooter, finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2024/25 and had been positioned to land a lucrative multiyear deal with the Pistons in free agency. That changed once reports surfaced that federal investigators and the NBA were looking into him over a possible link to illegal betting activity. He later signed with Cangrejeros de Santurce, a Puerto Rican team owned by Bad Bunny, while his NBA future remained uncertain.
The case makes Beasley and Davis the fourth and fifth former NBA players to be indicted by federal prosecutors in the ongoing illegal sports gambling probe, joining Terry Rozier, Jontay Porter and Damon Jones. Porter was permanently banned by the NBA after a league investigation determined he had shared confidential information with bettors. The other cases are still active.
NBA spokesperson Mike Bass issued a statement to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press saying the league is reviewing the indictment and will continue to cooperate with authorities.
“We are in the process of reviewing the federal indictment unsealed today involving Malik Beasley and Ed Davis. Beasley last played in the NBA during the 2024/25 season and Davis last played in the league during the 2021/22 season.
We will continue to investigate this matter and cooperate with the relevant authorities. We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness, and the integrity of our game remains our top priority.”
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