Ex-NBA Player Malik Beasley to Plead Guilty in Federal Sports Betting Case
Beasley is accused of manipulating his performance during NBA games to help others profit from sports betting
Malik Beasley is expected to plead guilty in a federal sports betting case, according to The Athletic
Federal prosecutors allege Beasley manipulated his performance during games while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2023-24 season
Beasley was indicted in June alongside five other men in an alleged scheme involving insider information and illegal bets
Former NBA player Malik Beasley is expected to plead guilty in a federal sports betting case months after prosecutors accused him of manipulating his performance during games while playing for the Milwaukee Bucks .
Beasley is scheduled to enter his guilty plea in Brooklyn federal court on Dec. 9, his attorney, Steve Haney, told The Athletic .
Beasley had been negotiating a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, and an overnight court docket notice indicated that he intended to plead guilty, according to ESPN . Beasley had not yet signed a plea agreement when Haney spoke with the outlet, the attorney said.
The case stems from allegations that Beasley, 29, manipulated his performance during some games in the 2023-24 NBA season and that others used information about his expected statistics to place bets, according to the U.S. Department of Justice 's June announcement of the athlete's indictment.
Beasley was indicted alongside former NBA player Edward Davis, NBA player agent Paolo Zamorano and three other men: William Brown, Robert Gorodetsky and Ernesto Plascencia, according to the Justice Department.
The defendants were charged with "wire fraud conspiracy, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy for their alleged roles in a scheme to bribe Beasley to manipulate his performance in NBA games and use inside information about Beasley's intended performance to profit via illegal betting activity," the Justice Department said in a news release at the time.
Federal authorities alleged that Beasley told Davis on several occasions that he planned to underperform in upcoming games. Davis allegedly passed that information to co-conspirators, who then placed bets on Beasley's statistics, according to the indictment.
One example cited by prosecutors involved a Jan. 26, 2024, game against the Cleveland Cavaliers . Beasley allegedly told Davis that he planned to record fewer rebounds than expected. Beasley finished the game with three rebounds, one below his betting line, according to the indictment.
"In total, the defendants and their co-conspirators placed fraudulent wagers totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars conditioned on Beasley's fixed performance in the influenced games at issue via multiple betting operators," the Justice Department alleged.
"As alleged, the defendants turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation, bribing then-NBA player Malik Beasley to fix his performance in multiple games in order to place fraudulent wagers, enrich themselves and cheat legitimate sportsbooks," Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement .
"Bribery and insider betting schemes like this one involving former NBA players and a current NBA player agent who exploited inside NBA information for profit erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public," Nocella added.
Following the indictment in June, Haney issued a statement to PEOPLE urging the public to reserve judgment until all the facts were known.
Follow your favorite athletes on and off the field with PEOPLE's free sports newsletter — sign up now!
"An indictment is nothing but a probable cause one-sided charging document," Haney said. "It is not evidence and Malik maintains his presumption of innocence throughout this two year investigation. We ask that people reserve judgment until all the facts are known."
Beasley played for six NBA teams over a nine-year career. He last played in the NBA during the 2024-25 season with the Detroit Pistons and also played 17 games for Santurce in Puerto Rico's Baloncesto Superior Nacional last season.
PEOPLE has reached out to Haney and a representative for Beasley for comment.
Topics in this story
Gathered from external sources. Rights to this text belong to whoever originally published it.