Former Brooklyn hoops star Sebastian Telfair is calling on President Donald Trump to give him a last-second pardon before he has to report to prison on Tuesday to serve out a six-month sentence.
Telfair, who starred for Abraham Lincoln High School in Coney Island and bounced around the NBA, allegedly failed to satisfy the terms of a plea bargain related to a healthcare fraud case he was wrapped up in, and decided to make a last-ditch plea to Trump during an interview with TMZ.
“Trump, go check in on my story and you’re definitely going to want to pardon me,” he said during the interview on the streets of New York. “You’ll hold me accountable and want me to continue to go do good. But I did too good to being sending anybody to jail.”
Telfair called the situation “super unfair” and told the outlet that he was “mad” he had to spend time in federal jail.
The former high school basketball star said that it had been an issue with paperwork that led to the current situation he finds himself in.
“I know Donald Trump’s got some big things going on, but Donald Trump, I need you to come holla’ … give your boy a pardon so I could stay home with my baby,” Telfair said while talking to TMZ.
Telfair had been among a number of ex-NBA players who were alleged to have run a scheme to try and cheat the league’s health care plan out of nearly $4 million back in 2021.
He was first sentenced to time served plus supervised release for three years, but this summer he was re-sentenced to six months in jail for failing to abide by the terms of his release.
Telfair did try to put a positive spin on the situation, saying that he has plans to write a book and he was documenting his story.
He played 10 seasons in the NBA, with stops in Minnesota, Portland, Phoenix, Boston, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Toronto and Cleveland after becoming a rare guard to make the jump straight from high school. He was drafted No.13 overall by the Timberwolves in 2004.
