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Malik Beasley made his first appearance in federal court in Brooklyn in the government’s NBA betting corruption case, debuting a new defense team led by attorney Jeffrey Lichtman.
At the status conference, prosecutors told the court they expect to begin turning over discovery next week under a protective order. Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall scheduled the next status conference for Oct. 14 at 3 p.m.
Beasley is one of six defendants charged in the case. According to the indictment, the defendants face counts including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, bribery in sporting contests and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Prosecutors say discovery will start with subpoenaed records
Federal prosecutors said the first batch of evidence will include materials obtained through subpoenas, including bank and telephone records. A later phase is expected to include evidence obtained through search warrants, including iCloud data and other electronically stored information.
The indictment alleges Beasley accepted bribes to manipulate parts of his performance during the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2023-24 season. Prosecutors say the alleged scheme ran from December 2023 through April 2024 and focused on player prop bets tied to categories such as points and rebounds.
The filing specifically cites three Bucks games against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Clippers.
Case adds to broader federal scrutiny of betting integrity
Prosecutors have said the Beasley case is related to previously charged sports betting cases involving Terry Rozier, Long Phi Pham and Ammar Awawdeh.
For New York readers, the main immediate development is procedural: the case is moving forward in federal court in Brooklyn, and the evidence-sharing phase is about to begin. That matters because the government has indicated it expects to produce thousands of pages of records and later electronic data as the case develops.
Lichtman, who now leads Beasley’s defense team, has previously represented clients including John A. Gotti, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán and Keith Raniere.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison on the wire fraud conspiracy counts, up to 20 years on the money laundering conspiracy count and up to five years on the sports bribery charge.
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Source: As reported by Lauren Conlin.
