DOJ: Former NFL player sentenced to 16 years for defrauding $200 million from Medicare and VA

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The U.S. Department of Justice seal. (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

A former NFL player who was a member of the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for a years long scheme that bilked Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs out of $200 million. 

Dig deeper:

The DOJ says  Joel Rufus French, 47, of Armory, Mississippi, owned a marketing company and was the beneficial owner of eight durable medical equipment (DME) companies and ran a scheme of selling patient information and sham doctors’ orders for orthotic braces that patients did not want or need.

The scheme involved French working with overseas telemarketing call centers that pressured elderly patients to provide their personal and health insurance information and agree to accept orthotic braces they didn’t need. Court documents show that in certain instances, the call centers would alter call recordings to make it seem like Medicare patients agreed to the braces when they did not.

The DOJ said French paid sham telemedicine companies kickbacks to obtain signed doctors’ orders from doctors and nurse practitioners who never examined, and often never even spoke to, the patients. He sold the orders to marketers and medical supply companies, which then submitted claims to Medicare. French also defrauded Medicare and Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA), by billing the programs for orthotic braces through eight DME supply companies that he owned and managed, using straw owners and false documents to hide his connection to the companies from Medicare. 

What they're saying:

"The defendant orchestrated a brazen, yearslong scheme that preyed on elderly patients and the families of disabled and deceased veterans to steal millions from Medicare and CHAMPVA," said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS‑OIG in a release. "By hiding behind overseas call centers, sham telemedicine companies, and straw‑owned DME suppliers, he exploited some of the most vulnerable people these programs were created to protect. This lengthy sentence underscores the seriousness of his crimes and sends a clear message: HHS‑OIG and our law enforcement partners remain steadfast in safeguarding taxpayer‑funded programs and ensuring those who seek to defraud them will be found, stopped, and held accountable." 

By the numbers:

Court documents show that  French also laundered approximately $225,000 in cash from a bank in Mississippi, over $10,000 of which was placed in a bag and driven to Orlando to pay accomplices who sold him beneficiaries’ personal and insurance information.

In addition to the prison sentence, French was ordered to pay $110,753,619 in restitution and to forfeit approximately $17 million that the government seized from bank accounts and other assets.