Former NBA star Sebastian Telfair has publicly asked for President Donald Trump to give him a pardon as he faces a few months of federal prison time.
In 2023, Telfair pled guilty to charges of fraud after he was found to be one of 18 former NBA players who defrauded the league’s health and welfare benefit plan of about $4million.
He was sentenced to time served plus three years probation – which included court ordered community service.
But earlier this month, Telfair was ordered to report to prison on August 12 – this Tuesday – after violating conditions of his supervised release.
Speaking to TMZ, Telfair revealed that the court ordered him back because of ‘me not having my paperwork together’.
‘I’m mad, I’m mad, I don’t wanna be doing no federal time or all that,’ Telfair told the outlet.
Former NBA star Sebastian Telfair is asking for a pardon in his fraud case as he’s set to serve six months in a federal prison for violating the terms of his conditional release
Telfair publicly asked for President Trump to pardon him so he can take care of his 3-year-old
He continued: ‘As far as the initial case, I believe this whole federal case is definitely some bulls**t, no disrespect to the system. But this is NBA accounts. This is our own account.
‘This is my money that, you know what I’m saying, I tampered with inside of my account. No, I should not end up in federal custody for tampered with our own NBA accounts.
‘I feel like we all have been victims under this NBA situation. I earned that money that they said that I took out of my account. I physically worked, and you all watched me earn that money, and I now got to pay it back to the system.
‘The money don’t go back into my account. It goes back to the system. So that is just mind-blowing to me.’
After adding that he’s being treated ‘super unfairly’, Telfair then revealed that he has a three-year-old child at home he needs to take care of. With that in mind, Telfair made a plea to the Oval Office to ask for an intervention in his case.
‘I know Donald Trump got some big things going on, Donald Trump might need to come holla and give ya boy a pardon, and so I could stay home with my babies, continue building my community,’ Telfair told the outlet.
Telfair was drafted 13th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft straight out of Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York and played in the league for over a decade.
He made stops with Portland, the Boston Celtics, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Phoenix Suns, the Toronto Raptors, and the Oklahoma City Thunder. Telfair also played multiple seasons in China before ending his pro career in 2017.
