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

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 to defraud Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs of $200 million.

Digging Deep:

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

The scheme involved French working with foreign telemarketing call centers to pressure elderly patients to provide their personal and health insurance information and agree to accept orthotic braces they did not need. Court documents show that in some cases, call centers altered call recordings to make it appear that Medicare patients agreed to braces when they did not.

The DOJ said French paid bribes to fake telemedicine companies to obtain signed doctors’ orders from doctors and nurse practitioners who never examined the patients, and often never even spoke to them. They sold orders to marketers and medical supply companies, who then submitted claims to Medicare. French also defrauded Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medicare Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) by billing the programs for orthotic braces through eight DME supply companies, using straw men and false documents to hide their relationship with the companies from Medicare.

What they are saying:

Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations for the Office of Inspector General (HHS‑OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Scott J. “The defendants perpetrated a brazen, years-long scheme that preyed on elderly patients and the families of disabled and deceased veterans to steal millions from Medicare and Champaign,” Lampert said in a release. These programs were created for security. “This lengthy sentence underscores the seriousness of his crimes and sends a clear message: HHS-OIG and our law enforcement partners are determined to protect taxpayer-funded programs and ensure that those who seek to defraud them will be found, stopped, and held accountable.”

According to the numbers:

Court documents show French also embezzled approximately $225,000 in cash from a bank in Mississippi, more than $10,000 of which was placed in a bag and taken to Orlando to pay associates 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 forfeit nearly $17 million seized from bank accounts and other assets by the government.

Crime and Public Safety U.S.