Ex-NBA player Beasley negotiating plea deal in gambling case

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  Tom SchadOct 24, 2026, 10:11 AM ET

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  Tom Schad is a Washington D.C.-based reporter on ESPN's investigative and enterprise team. Reach him at tom.schad@espn.com.

Former NBA player Malik Beasley is negotiating a plea agreement with Department of Justice lawyers over his alleged role in a bribery and betting scheme, one of his attorneys confirmed Saturday.

An overnight notice on the court docket indicated that Beasley, who played for six different NBA teams over a nine-year career, intends to plead guilty in the case. Attorney Steve Haney told ESPN in a text message that Beasley has not yet signed a plea deal with prosecutors, but talks are ongoing and a decision is expected early this week.

A spokesperson for the Eastern District of New York did not immediately reply to follow-up questions about the matter.

Prosecutors allege that Beasley, 29, deliberately manipulated his statistics in at least four games during the 2023-24 season while he was with the Milwaukee Bucks, so that gamblers could place and win bets on his performance.

According to the indictment, his co-defendants selected games that would not be nationally televised and Beasley decided whether he would underperform or overperform his scoring and rebounding. Though he had earned tens of millions of dollars during his career, Beasley also accumulated "multi-million dollar gambling losses" when he became part of the alleged scheme, according to the indictment.

Beasley faces federal counts of bribery in sporting contests, wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. He initially pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Late Friday, however, the judge overseeing his case asked a federal magistrate in Brooklyn to schedule a hearing for Beasley to change his plea. The judge filed a similar order Friday for another defendant in the case, Ernesto Plascencia. Plascencia's attorney confirmed Saturday morning that he will be entering a guilty plea.

One of the other defendants in the case, William Brown, pleaded guilty earlier this month, while fellow sports bettor Robert Gorodetsky is slated to formally enter a guilty plea Nov. 20.

Former NBA player Ed Davis and Paolo Zamorano, who was Davis' agent, were also charged in the case and have pleaded not guilty.