Ex-NBA Guard Malik Beasley Agrees to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges in Betting and Bribery Scheme

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Beasley's attorney says the former Bucks guard will change his plea on Dec. 9 in New York, moving a federal case over altered stat lines in 2023-24 games toward resolution.

Ex-NBA player Malik Beasley agrees to plead guilty in sports betting case — ESPN

Former NBA guard Malik Beasley has agreed to plead guilty in his federal sports betting case, his attorney, Steve Haney, told ESPN on Tuesday. Beasley is scheduled to change his plea at a Dec. 9 hearing in New York. The case, one of the most serious betting-integrity matters to reach the league, now appears headed for resolution through a plea rather than a trial.

Beasley, 29, played nine seasons in the NBA for six teams. He was indicted in June alongside former NBA player Ed Davis. He initially pleaded not guilty to four federal counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The news comes in the first week of the 2026-27 season, when the league's attention is mostly on the court. It is a reminder that the integrity questions raised by sports gambling have not gone away.

What prosecutors allege

Prosecutors allege that Beasley deliberately altered his own stat lines in at least four games for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023-24 so that bettors could profit from his performances. The allegation is that the manipulation came from inside the game, from a player affecting the numbers on which wagers were based.

One of those games was a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 26, 2024. Prosecutors allege Beasley told Davis he intended to underperform his rebounding line. Beasley finished that game with three rebounds and three points. The box score alone proves nothing about intent, and the claim that he planned the result is an allegation from the indictment.

‘Threw It All Away to Make Extra Pennies,’ ‘It’s Over’ – NBA Fans React as Malik Beasley Is Set to Agree Plea Deal In Gambling Scandal — Yahoo Sports

The indictment also describes how the scheme allegedly worked. The co-defendants Beasley is accused of working with targeted games that lacked national television coverage. Beasley, according to prosecutors, decided whether his points and rebounds would finish low or high. Props tied to individual players' totals are the kind of market where one player's output can matter, and the games with less exposure are where such activity might draw less notice. That second point is analysis, not something the charging documents are reported to say.

How the plea came together

The path to Tuesday's announcement was visible in court records beforehand. Late Friday, the presiding judge asked a federal magistrate in Brooklyn to set a change-of-plea hearing for Beasley. An overnight docket notice then showed that he intended to plead guilty. Haney's comments to ESPN supplied the date.

A change-of-plea hearing is the proceeding where a defendant formally enters a guilty plea before a judge. Until then, the plea remains an agreement rather than a completed legal step. The reporting available so far does not detail the terms of Beasley's agreement, which counts he will plead to, or what sentence prosecutors may seek. Those details will likely become clearer at or around the Dec. 9 hearing.

Why it matters beyond one player

The most direct consequence is legal. A guilty plea would resolve the charges against Beasley and could spare the case a public trial, where the evidence about how the scheme allegedly operated would have been tested in front of a jury. Whether a plea brings out any further details will depend on what is said in court and what is filed.

The league implications are less settled. Beasley's case shows that prosecutors are treating alleged manipulation of player performance for betting purposes as a criminal matter, including bribery in sporting contests and fraud. That is a serious theory, because it treats a player's individual statistics as something that can be corrupted for profit, not just a team result.

For the NBA, the case bears on how it oversees betting around its games, especially markets built on individual player performance. A plea from a player accused of shaping his own numbers puts that oversight under scrutiny. The materials reviewed do not report any new league policy or response tied to Tuesday's news, so any discussion of changes is speculative.

The case also leaves open questions. Davis was indicted in the same case, and the reporting reviewed here does not say whether he has entered a plea or what his next court date is. Beasley's agreement does not by itself establish how any co-defendant's case will be resolved.

What to watch next

The next fixed point is the Dec. 9 hearing in New York. That is when Beasley is expected to formally change his plea and when more information about the agreement may emerge. After a plea, sentencing typically follows at a later date, though no sentencing date has been reported.

For now, the confirmed facts are narrow but significant. A nine-year NBA veteran who was indicted in June on four federal counts has, through his attorney, said he will plead guilty. The allegations that he deliberately altered his performances in Bucks games for bettors' benefit will now be addressed through the plea process rather than a contested trial.

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