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The curious case of Sebastian Telfair gets more complicated as he goes viral. Last week, the NBA player was spotted in prison chatting with the other celebrity inmate of the federal prison, FCI Fort Dix, Sean “Diddy” Combs, the guy he has the oddest connection to. This week, his apparent residence has gone viral. Telfair has seemingly gone back to his roots under the worst circumstances. It begs the question, what really happened to Sebastian Telfair. Who Is Sebastian Telfair? Born in June 9, 1985, Sebastian Telfair, the New York native grew up in Brooklyn. He’s American, the son of a marine, Otis Telfair who served in the Vietnam War and his wife, Erica. His cousin is Knicks star, Stephon Marbury who’d also play overseas after a decorated but troubled NBA career. Sebastian Telfair’s Early Life and Career Telfair is a product of the Surfside Gardens projects in Brooklyn. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School where his talent on the court was representative of the Big Apple hoops culture. The former Mr. Basketball USA was once ranked as the No. 2 point guard and No. 6 player in the nation in 2004. That unfortunately didn’t translate so well into an NBA career. Read Top Stories First From EssentiallySports Click here and check box next to EssentiallySports Sebastian Telfair’s NBA career and Personal Life Telfair had the opportunity to go to Louiseville. But changed track and entered the 2004 NBA draft. The Trail Blazers selected him 13th overall. For the majority of his career, critics felt his stats, usually in the low single digits, were underwhelming for a starting point guard. His trades to Celtics, Timberwolves, Clippers, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City were just as uneventful. He even played in China for several seasons like his cousin. He reportedly earned $19 million across 10 years in the NBA but fell on hard times. Telfair and Diddy’s relationship explained Very early into his career, Sebastian Telfair was victim to a robbery. He was mugged outside a restaurant named Justin’s in 2006. The owner of that restaurant was Sean “Diddy” Combs. The same night of his robbery, the rapper Fabolous was shot outside that place. Telfair missed a preseason game to identify possible suspects out of a police lineup. Telfair’s and Combs’ paths didn’t physically cross back then. He’s told DJ Vlad and several interviewers he was invited to the parties held by Combs but never attended. The only time we’d see them within proximity of each other is in the yard of a federal prison. Pictures surfaced of the disgraced rap mogul holding court with inmates. A rep for Telfair confirmed that the NBA legend is in the same picture. What Happened to Sebastian Telfair? In 2021, Telfair was named among 18 former NBA players charged with attempting to defraud the league’s health and welfare benefit plan. The accused players allegedly faked medical and dental expenses covered under NBA’s benefits. The scam began in 2017 and went on for about two years. Telfair pled guilty to the charges in 2023 and was sentenced to three years’ probation. However, he violated the terms of his probation by not meeting the community service hours and failing to report to the US Probation Office. He turned himself in August 2025 and is serving a six month prison sentence at Fort Dix with Sean Combs. Before he reported to prison, two significant events went down. Telfair attempted to get a pardon from President Donald Trump. The second event was only revealed recently. Apparently, due to his mounting financial problems, Telfair has returned to the Surfside Gardens projects in Brooklyn. A video that surfaced a week after the Diddy encounter shows him in the area saying, “I was not expecting to be living in this m——– though.” It created some mild confusion. Note, the video isn’t exactly verified and it’s not clear when it was recorded. After all, Telfair has been the subject of countless documentaries. It could be taken from any of those. One thing’s clear though, Telfair’s not a resident of Brooklyn. He’s officially a prison inmate now.
