Longtime NBA player Sebastian Telfair, who was scheduled to begin serving a prison sentence Tuesday, asked President Donald Trump for a pardon just hours before his incarceration.
“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 told TMZ on Monday.
Telfair, a New York City high school phenom who played for eight NBA teams between 2004 and 2015 after being drafted in the first round, repeated his plea.
“Trump, go check in on my story and you’re definitely going to want to pardon me. You’ll hold me accountable and want me to continue to go do good. But I did too good” to be sent to jail, he said.
Layne Murdoch Jr. via Getty Images
Telfair was among many NBA players who were charged with running up fake medical bills on the league’s health care plan to extract millions of ill-gotten dollars.
He was originally sentenced to time served and supervised release for three years but was later given six months in the slammer for violating the terms of his release, the New York Post reported.
According to Sportico, Telfair missed appointments with his probation officer, evaded his community service obligation, and was told by a judge that he did not pursue employment as ordered.
Telfair attributed the problem to a paperwork mixup and said his situation was “super unfair.”
Layne Murdoch via Getty Images
As for the possibility that Trump might play ball with Telfair, a senior White House official told HuffPost on Tuesday in an emailed statement: “Any decision on pardons or commutations will come directly from the President, and the White House will not comment on any speculation regarding such actions.”
In 2019, Telfair was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for gun possession. He was out on appeal days later; his conviction was eventually overturned and a new trial ordered.