Keyon Dooling, an ex-NBPA VP, caught in fraud case

Keyon Dooling (#1) spent 4 seasons with the L.A. Clippers (2000-’04). Photo Credit: Andrew D. Bernstein

NEW YORK -- Former National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) vice president Keyon Dooling, who is currently an assistant coach for the Utah Jazz, was arrested Wednesday and added to a criminal case in which 18 former NBA players were charged with illegally pocketing millions of dollars by defrauding the league's health and welfare benefit plan. The rewritten indictment added Dooling to the case first brought in October, when federal officials said a number of former NBA players combined to collect about $2.5 million from the benefit plan.

Dooling, who was a union officer for eight years and eventually became its first vice president, was among three individuals added to the indictment Wednesday. He spent parts of 13 seasons in the NBA as a member of seven different teams. The Jazz said Dooling made the club aware of the indictment Wednesday morning, and he was placed on paid administrative leave by the team.

"It is a case concerning his time at the National Basketball Players Association, prior to him joining our organization," the Jazz said in a statement. "... Due to the ongoing legal process, we will refrain from further comment."

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