Former NBA players Malik Beasley, Edward Davis indicted for alleged sports gambling scheme
Malik Beasley #5 of the Detroit Pistons in action in Game Five of the Eastern Conference First Round NBA Playoffs against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on April 29, 2025 in New York City. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Former NBA players Malik Beasley and Edward Davis, current sports agent Paolo Zamorano and three others were indicted Monday for their alleged roles in a sports gambling scheme in which authorities said Beasley was bribed to manipulate his performance in NBA games.
With their inside knowledge, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Beasley’s co-defendants placed sports bets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In a Jan. 26, 2024 game between the Bucks and Cavaliers, Beasley allegedly told his then-Milwaukee teammate Davis he intended to underperform his usual rebounding prowess.
In exchange, Beasley expected a bribe payment and Davis disseminated the information to co-defendants so they could place fraudulent wagers, the indictment said.
Many of the fraudulent wagers were successful, authorities said.
The following month, when the Bucks were playing the Hornets, Beasley allegedly told Davis he would underperform his usual scoring and overperform his rebounding.
Davis allegedly passed the information to co-defendants and they placed successful fraudulent wagers, the indictment said.
In a third example from the indictment, Beasley allegedly told Davis he would overperform his rebounding in a March 2024 game against the Clippers.
“An indictment is nothing but a probable cause one sided charging document,” Beasley’s attorney, Steve Haney said in a statement. “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.”
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 indictment said.
“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,” said United States Attorney Joseph Nocella.
“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.”
The Fulton County Jail is seen on August 23, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — Former Fulton County Jail detainee Rashaad Muhammad detailed what he said was a harrowing experience being held at the Atlanta, Georgia, facility from August 2025 to February of this year.
After being arrested on Aug. 11, the 33-year-old — who used a cane to walk and took medication regularly for a blood condition — alleged at a press conference last Friday that he was repeatedly denied medical care as his physical condition rapidly deteriorated for more than two weeks.
As he allegedly experienced symptoms like vomiting bile and losing the ability to stand up, Muhammad said his requests for medical attention were ignored for several days and he ultimately experienced septic shock. After being transported to Grady Memorial Hospital, he fell into a coma and both of his hands and legs were amputated.
In a statement to ABC News, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said Muhammad spent 177 of the 188 days he was in custody “at Grady under hospital care.”
“For days, I’m in the corner by myself suffering. Nobody’s checking on me. Nobody’s coming up to you,” an emotional Muhammad told the press. “I’m back there. I was tired, so I’m trying to tell the officer, ‘Hey officer, I need to, you know, it’s getting bad.’ Nothing.”
He alleged that officials in the jail ignored his condition, even as he asked for medical help each day.
“I’m begging the sheriff to let me see the provider … I can’t get up. Every time they do head count, you have to stand by your door,” he said. “It got so bad to the point where I couldn’t even get up. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to the officers but I just couldn’t get up. So they just started, they’d see me, they didn’t, I didn’t have to do headcount. But that’s when I knew it was bad.”
Muhammad had been charged with two felony counts of aggravated assault and firearm possession. According to court records, the warrant alleges that he drove up to the victim, got out of his car and fired multiple shots at the victim, then drove off.
At the press conference, Muhammad and his attorneys described this as a case of self-defense. All charges were dropped earlier this month. It’s unclear exactly why the charges were dropped.
“For them to drop the charges is another slap in the face, because I was there for no reason. I didn’t have to be there,” Muhammad said.
An attorney from the Georgia Public Defender Council represented Muhammad at the time.
“This case raises serious questions about humane treatment in custody and emphasizes the importance of testing allegations through a fair adversarial process that ultimately resulted in Mr. Muhammad’s charges being dismissed,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement to ABC News.
The prosecutors in the case did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The Fulton County jail system has been the subject of scrutiny for years, drawing national attention in 2022 over the death of LaShawn Thompson in a bed bug-infested cell. In response to a series of reports of inmate abuse and neglect, including Thompson’s death, the Department of Justice launched a civil investigation into the Fulton County jail system in July 2023.
“We need to know why Fulton County did what they did in choosing their health care provider,” Muhammad’s attorney, Eric Hertz, told the press. “We need to know why a bottle of pills which he had on him when he was originally arrested, why they didn’t let him take that with him, why they didn’t carefully give him the antibiotics as he needed them.”
In a statement to ABC News, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said it cannot comment on or release information about Muhammad’s medical condition or treatment due to privacy laws.
“It is important to note that of the 188 days Mr. Muhammad was in custody, 177 of those days were spent at Grady under hospital care,” it said. “During his time at the Fulton County Jail, he was under the medical care of NaphCare.”
NaphCare is a private, for-profit correctional health care company based in Alabama. A 2024 report released by the Justice Department after LaShawn Thompson’s death noted “ongoing issues” with the company’s staffing at the jail, but its contract with Georgia state was ultimately renewed until 2027.
At the press conference on Friday, attorney Ben Crump noted that the same medical provider was involved in both Thompson and Muhammad’s situations.
“We need answers, and we need Fulton County to act. This is deplorable, this is horrific, this is egregious,” he said. “And worst of all, this is inhumane. We don’t treat human beings like this.”
In a statement to ABC News, NaphCare said “Fulton County jails represent one of the most difficult environments” where the company provides care in the U.S.
“Despite the challenges, we have been extraordinarily successful in improving care and saving lives, maintaining accreditation by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and working with federal court monitors to implement reforms under a federal court consent decree,” the company said.
NaphCare noted that it has “cared for tens of thousands of patients, and have had thousands of positive patient outcomes” in the time it has been contracted to work at the jail.
It also addressed Muhammad’s case specifically.
“We are also deeply saddened by and sorry for the suffering and losses that Mr. Muhammad experienced,” the company said its statement. “We understand that he has a right to file a lawsuit against us, and we will respond to the allegations in court filings and will not comment to the news media outside of the ongoing court proceedings.”
Muhammad’s legal team called for accountability and a full investigation into the conditions and medical care within the jail.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
An Amtrak passenger waits for his train at Penn Station April 2, 2004 in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A fire erupted on Amtrak work trains in a Hudson River tunnel between New York and New Jersey early Friday, suspending Penn Station service for NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road commuters.
LIRR service has since resumed, but the NJ Transit suspension into Penn Station is ongoing.
Two Amtrak work trains collided in the Hudson River tunnel at about 1:25 a.m., impacting the electrical system and igniting a fire, said Janno Lieber, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
One NJ Transit passenger called the experience “frightening,” telling ABC News, “Someone yelled there was a fire on the track … there was a very loud explosion that shook the train and caused the lights to go out. We didn’t move for maybe 8 to 10 minutes.”
“I rely on NJ Transit to get to work, so I am now deeply concerned about how I will commute safely moving forward,” the New Jersey resident said.
Amtrak service is also impacted. Amtrak said trains south of Penn Station are suspended until at least noon while “lengthy delays” are expected north of Penn Station.
(NEW YORK) — A wildfire burning in Utah has grown to more than 31,000 acres, prompting mandatory evacuations of homes and campgrounds and completely closing a highway in the mountainous area.
Fueled by drought conditions and blustery winds, firefighters are waging twin battles against two major blazes, both measuring more than 48 square miles, officials said.
The Cottonwood Fire in Beaver County started Monday afternoon and spread rapidly, fanned by wind gusts of up to 50 mph, according to Utah Fire Info.
Overnight, the Cottonwood fire grew by nearly 7,000 acres “due to high temperatures, gusty winds, and extremely dry fuels,” the U.S. Forest Service said in a statement early Wednesday. The fire remains 0% contained.
The Cottonwood Fire ignited around 3:36 p.m. on Monday, threatening populated areas in Beaver County, according to officials.
Just after 9 p.m. local time on Monday, residents in the Eagle Point and Merchant Valley areas of Beaver County were ordered to evacuate immediately as flames bore down on the area, authorities said.
Evacuation orders remained in effect on Wednesday morning.
Fire officials said on Tuesday that they suspect the Cottonwood Fire is a human-caused blaze, but released no additional details, according to ABC affiliate station KTVX in Salt Lake City.
The Cottonwood Fire is one of 349 wildfires currently burning across Utah consuming more than 105,000 acres combined, according to Utah Fire Info.
The biggest active fire is the Iron Fire burning in Juab County, about 28 miles southwest of Provo. As of Tuesday, the Iron Fire had burned 31,314 acres and was 9% contained, said Al Nash, public information officer for the Great Basin Team 3, a federal agency in charge of the incident.
The fire has prompted numerous evacuations in the area, including the complete evacuation of the town of Eureka, which has a population of just over 600.
Kelly Wicken, a spokesperson for the Utah Division of Forestry, said the blaze started on private land and has now spread across Juab and two other counties, crossing onto federal land and shutting down a highway.
Before the fire, the National Weather Service had issued red flag fire danger warnings for a large part of the state.
Red flag warnings and fire weather watches are in place across southern and central Utah and through much of western and central Colorado, Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. Strong winds and low humidity are expected to fuel the existing fires and enable new fires to spark and spread rapidly.
