Desmond Mason, a former NBA and Oklahoma State University basketball player, was charged with four felony fraud counts Monday by Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna.
Mason, who faces four counts of obtaining by false pretense and one count of pattern of criminal offenses, is accused of collecting payment for his artwork from four separate victims who say they never received the pieces.
Three alleged victims in Oklahoma County and one in Tulsa County were in contact with Mason between March 2025 and April 2026. Each person paid varying prices for each piece above the $1,000 felony threshold, a press release from Behenna’s office stated.
According to a probable cause affidavit (embedded below), Mason’s accusers say they paid him amounts of $1,300, $6,750, $7,812 and $37,5000, respectively. The individuals told OKCPD Detective Kelsey Brown that Mason promised to deliver pieces to them but that he ultimately became unresponsive.
“He was in contact with four separate victims, one in Tulsa county and three in Oklahoma County, from March of 2025 to April of 2026. He continued ongoing communication, making promises on delivery of art that was never fulfilled or received. Each victim paid varying prices for each piece valued at over the $1,000 felony threshold,” Brown wrote. “The communication abruptly stopped for each victim at the beginning of 2026, in February, March, and April respectively. The victim’s have tried numerous times to contact defendant with zero success.”
Mason, 48, played nine seasons in the NBA, beginning in 2000 when he was selected in the first round of the draft by the Seattle Supersonics following his standout career at Oklahoma State. He played for five teams before retiring in 2009, including the OKC Thunder. Mason won the 2001 NBA Slam Dunk Contest and earned second team “all rookie” honors. Mason earned $37 million during his playing career, according to hoopshype.com.
After his retirement from basketball, Mason became a popular painter in OKC’s art scene, leveraging his celebrity to build a second career that occasionally supported fundraisers for nonprofit organizations.
But Mason has been sued several times this year in Oklahoma County District Court. In June, Dallas Barnett sued him for breach of a contract agreement in excess of $10,000. In May, Mason was sued by James Morris II for indebtedness twice in small claims court, which resulted in a default judgement earlier this month in both cases. Jason and Emily Callahan also won a default judgment against Mason in July. Each of the plaintiffs in those cases is listed in the affidavit regarding the charges filed Monday.
In May, News 9 reported Mason’s felony warrant out of Collin County Texas for his failure to return sports memorabilia a couple asked him to frame valued collectively around $40,000. The station reported that he was arrested and eventually booked into the Oklahoma County Jail.
Read the probable cause affidavit against Desmond Mason
