Ed Davis Signals Guilty Plea in EDNY NBA Prop-Fixing Case Against Malik Beasley

Former NBA forward Ed Davis signaled on 6 November 2026 that he intends to enter a guilty plea in the federal prop-fixing case against ex-Milwaukee Bucks guard Malik Beasley, pending in the Eastern District of New York.

A docket entry showed the presiding judge asked a magistrate to schedule a change-of-plea hearing, according to ESPN. Davis had pleaded not guilty to all four counts. His attorney, John Adams, and the EDNY press office offered no further comment, and plea terms have not been released. The NBA has said it is monitoring the case. Davis is presumed innocent until a plea is entered and accepted by the court.

Where the six defendants stand

Five of the six defendants have pleaded guilty or signaled they will, which leaves agent Paolo Zamorano as the only one without a signaled plea as of 6 November, according to ESPN.

Beasley's lawyer, Steve Haney, and the U.S. Attorney's Office confirmed his deal in late October. SportsBettingDime reported the 9 December hearing is scheduled for 2:30 pm.

The charges in United States v. Beasley et al.

The case, numbered 26-CR-190, rests on a grand jury indictment filed on 24 June 2026 and unsealed on 29 June 2026. It names Judge Ann M. Donnelly and Magistrate Judge Taryn A. Merkl. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) release lists the six defendants as Beasley, Davis, Brown, Gorodetsky, Plascencia and Zamorano. All charges remain allegations unless and until a defendant pleads guilty or is convicted.

The indictment also contains forfeiture allegations. The maximums are those stated in the DOJ release.

What prosecutors allege about the scheme

The indictment places the conduct between December 2023 and April 2024. Prosecutors allege Beasley agreed in advance with Davis, whom the document calls his "gatekeeper", to fall short of or exceed his prop lines. A prop line is a sportsbook's set number for an individual player statistic, such as rebounds or points, on which bettors wager over or under.

According to the indictment, Beasley was paid mainly through the reduction or payment of gambling debts he owed Davis. It alleges Davis passed the information to Gorodetsky, Plascencia and Zamorano, and that Plascencia relayed it to Brown. The DOJ release says the resulting wagers totaled "hundreds of thousands of dollars."

A text the indictment attributes to a 29 December 2023 exchange between Davis and Beasley includes the line "Only way you can beat Vegas is sports betting." The indictment places that message about a month before the first game it describes.

Games cited in the indictment

The indictment says Davis backed away from further fixing after reports about Jontay Porter surfaced following the Nets game.

Why it matters for the betting industry

The case is a federal test of the player-prop market, where a single athlete's stat line can be steered by one participant. Prop bets rely on individual performance, which is why integrity monitoring and bet-limit policies concentrate on them. The charging theory also reaches beyond sports bribery: wire fraud and honest services fraud counts treat the alleged manipulation as a fraud on sportsbooks and the public, and the money laundering count targets how proceeds moved.

The prosecution lands as US sports leagues rework their relationships with wagering venues. The NBA recently signed a non-binding pact with the CFTC and picked Kalshi and Polymarket as prediction-market partners, and the 76ers named Kalshi their official prediction market partner. On the integrity side, the league has an existing data tie-up through Sportradar's NBA partnership.

The case also follows a run of fixing prosecutions in other leagues. Gamingo covered a recent college basketball point-shaving case in which a fixer pleaded guilty, another example of federal prosecutors treating manipulated outcomes as fraud rather than only as sports misconduct.

What happens next

Beasley's change-of-plea hearing is 9 December, and Gorodetsky is due to plead on 20 November. Once Davis's hearing is calendared, the court will take his plea and the terms of any agreement, which would set the counts and sentencing exposure. Zamorano's position is the main open question in the case.

Status reviewed on 10 November 2026. Charges, statutes and maximum sentences come from the EDNY indictment and DOJ release, while plea developments come from ESPN and SportsBettingDime reporting. More regulation news and North America coverage.