plea

Former NBA player Malik Beasley has agreed to a plea deal months after initially pleading not guilty to federal charges tied to his alleged involvement in a gambling ring.

Beasley is expected to enter a guilty plea during a Dec. 9 hearing, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York confirmed in an email to The Times.

The NBA journeyman, who spent half of the 2022-2023 season with the Lakers, and several others were charged this summer with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bribery in sporting contests, honest services wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Beasley entered a not guilty plea to all charges on July 1.

It is not clear the charges to which Beasley will be entering a guilty plea.

Beasley has been accused of illegally manipulating his performance in NBA games to ensure gamblers won prop bets on at least four occasions while he was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2023-2024. According to the indictment, he and co-defendant Ed Davis, also a one-time Laker who was teammates with Beasley on the 2020-2021 Minnesota Timberwolves, conspired for Beasley to under- or overperform during certain games relative to specific statistics on which others involved in the scheme would place bets.

Beasley had previously borrowed money from Davis after accumulating millions of dollars in gambling losses. In exchange for fixing his performances, the indictment says, Beasley’s debts to Davis were “reduced or paid off.”

Also indicted were Paolo Zamorano, William Brown, Robert Gorodetsky and Ernesto Plascencia. All six defendants initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, but Brown has since pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and Gorodetsky and Plascencia also both scheduled for change of plea hearings in November.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Strictly Come Dancing viewers spotted a switch-up with the new presenters and made a plea with producers ahead of next week’s show

Strictly viewers made a plea to the big bosses after noticing a presenter switch-up for the first results show. Josh Widdicombe, Emma Willis and Johannes Radebe have been heavily scrutinised in their first few appearances since taking the baton from Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

But after Emma and Johannes were paired together for the start of Sunday’s show, fans pleaded for it to stay that way. The pair discussed Saturday’s show with the judges and viewers took to social media to share their thoughts.

One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, said: “JoJo and Emma finally presenting together. Now can we have them downstairs on the main show please.”

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Another added: “Emma Willis & Johannes Radebe are the only presenters the show needs. A respected individual with years of presenting on her CV & a fantastic dancer with charisma & enthusiasm flowing out of his pores #Strictly”

And a third said: “This is showing that it should be just Emma and Johannes they’ve had more Chemistry in a few minutes then two weeks of Josh. Emma upstairs and Johannes.”

However, when Emma made her way down out of the Clauditorium to reveal the votes, she was replaced by Josh, who joined Johannes to chat with the celebs. And once again he divided opinions.

One user said: “Absolutely love Josh widdicombe but I feel like he should be on it takes too, he feels a little outta place on the main show.”