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Sebastian Telfair begged Donald Trump to pardon him before he reported to prison: "It's super unfair"
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- Sebastian Telfair begged Donald Trump to pardon him before he reported to prison: "It's super unfair"
Former NBA player Sebastian Telfair spent time in federal prison last year for violating his probation over fraud charges he pleaded guilty to. But before he served his sentence, he made a last-ditch plea to U.S. President Donald Trump to look into his case and pardon him.
Telfair, who played 10 seasons in the NBA before exiting in 2015, was sentenced to six months at the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey, after he violated the conditions of his supervised release.
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The sentence was in connection with his involvement in a $4 million health care fraud scheme. He was one of a number of former NBA players charged in 2021 for making fraudulent claims in the league's health and welfare benefit plan.
He pleaded guilty to the charge and faced a 20-year prison sentence, but in January 2014, he was given time served plus three years supervised release.
Telfair, however, was re-sentenced in August to six months in prison for violating the terms of his release, particularly for failing to do community service and report to the U.S. Probation Office.
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Seeking Trump's help
In a bid to stave off serving his sentence, Telfair made a last-minute plea to President Trump in a video message, which TMZ Sports shared. He urged the head of state to look into his case to see that it was just a mess-up of his papers.
"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 being sending anybody to jail," Telfair, the 13th overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, said .
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He went on to say that while he was not completely blameless, he still deserved consideration.
"It's super unfair. I'm definitely mad I put myself in this situation," Telfair underscored.
No pardon, though, came from Trump, leaving the former Abraham Lincoln High School standout to serve his sentence.
Telfair was released early
Telfair was supposed to serve his sentence until this month, but had himself an early Christmas gift when he was released right before the holidays for good behavior.
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He shared that his time in prison gave him a lot of realizations , including the need for him to shape and get his act together to live a life on the straight and narrow.
The now-40-year-old Telfair opened up about it in an interview with "The Pivot Podcast."
"What excuses do I have? Like, what excuses you have? That's what I'm asking myself. Like, what excuses do you have? Those are not good enough excuses. That's what I learned. I'm sitting in jail. I'm sitting there like, 'Yo, bro, whatever you was feeling wasn't good enough or make enough sense for you to be sitting in jail," he said.
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"I'm telling y'all, as a grown-a— man, I made excuses that basically led me into jail. [I learned to] face things head-on instead of trying to come up with some type of narrative or whatever, whatever, of excuse of why you not going to just take care of what's supposed to be taken care of moving forward," he added.
The pardon from Trump may not have come, but maybe at this stage of Telfair's life, that was exactly what he needed to finally gather himself and turn his life around.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Feb 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
