Malik Beasley Change of Plea Hearing For Sports Betting Scandal Set for December

• Former NBA guard Malik Beasley has intended to change his plea from not guilty to guilty for his role in a sports betting scandal
• The change in plea hearing will take place on Dec. 9, 2026, at U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
• Beasley allegedly agreeing to underperform or overperform in certain NBA games relative to his statistical over/under lines

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Just three months after former NBA guard Malik Beasley pled not guilty for his alleged role in a sports betting scandal, the nine-year veteran will officially change his plea to guilty in December.

According to U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, Beasley will change his plea to guilty during a hearing on Dec. 9, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. Beasley faces wire fraud conspiracy, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy charges.

Beasley and co-defendant Paolo Zamorano were indicted in July and face illegal sports betting charges after Beasley allegedly manipulated game performances during his time with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2023-2024 NBA season in exchange for bribes.

Pleading Guilty to Scandal

Beasley, who is now represented by attorney Steve Haney, will change his plea to guilty in December. When Beasley originally pleaded not guilty in July, he was represented by Jason Goldman, who said Beasley was looking forward to fighting the charges.

Each defendant in the scandal faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment on the wire fraud conspiracy counts, 20 years imprisonment on the money laundering conspiracy count, and five years imprisonment on the bribery in sports contests count.

Beasley may have reached a plea deal to avoid the maximum sentence of the charges he faces for his role in the scandal.

Alleged to Manipulate NBA Games

According to an unsealed indictment in the summer, Beasley, as member of the Milwaukee Bucks during the 2023-2024 NBA season, agreed with former NBA teammate Ed Davis (Davis and Beasley both played for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2020-2021) ahead of certain games that he would either underperform or overperform relative to over/under sports betting lines for certain statistical categories.

Davis allegedly acquired bribes for Beasley to manipulate his performance and the information was used by the other charged individuals to place illegal bets on his performance.

In return for his manipulation, Beasley either received the afformentioned bribes from the co-conspirators or had his personal gambling debts to Davis reduced or paid off.

If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment on the wire fraud conspiracy counts, 20 years imprisonment on the money laundering conspiracy count, and five years imprisonment on the bribery in sports contests count.

Game Manipulation Examples

The U.S. Department of Justice provided several examples of Beasley’s alleged manipulation during his 2023-2024 season with the Milwaukee Bucks. Beasley played in 79 regular season games for the Bucks, starting 77 of them, and averaged 11.3 points per game, 3.7 rebounds per game, and 1.4 assists per game.

Here are several examples of games Beasley allegedly manipulated:

• Jan. 26. 2024. Milwaukee Bucks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers: Beasley informed Davis that he intended to underperform with respects to his rebounding over/under total. He provided the information for a bribe Beasley played a total of 27 minutes and gathered three rebounds. Davis informed multiple co-conspirators of Beasley’s intentions, who used this information to place a number of fraudulent bets. Many of the bets were successful.
• Feb. 27, 2024. Milwaukee Bucks vs. Charlotte Hornets: Beasley informed Davis he would underperform with respects to points, but overperform with respects to rebounds. He provided the information for a bribe. Beasley scored six points and grabbed four rebounds. Co-conspirators used the information to place several fraudulent sports bets. Many of the bets were successful.
• March 10, 2024. Milwaukee Bucks vs. Los Angeles Clippers: Beasley informed Davis he would overperform with respects to rebounding in the game. He provided the information for a bribe. He grabbed four total rebounds for the contest. Co-conspirators placed several fraudulent bets using this information, many of which were successful.