Ex-NFL player gets 16 years in prison for scheme targeting veterans, elderly
French was ordered to pay $110.8 million in restitution after prosecutors said he used sham orders and telemarketing calls to cheat Medicare and CHAMPVA.
- Former Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers player Joel Rufus French received a 16-year prison sentence for orchestrating a yearslong scheme that defrauded Medicare and Veterans Affairs of $200 million.
- Operating eight DME companies through straw owners to hide his involvement, French collaborated with overseas telemarketing call centers that pressured elderly patients to accept unwanted orthotic braces they did not need.
- Court documents show French laundered approximately $225,000 from a Mississippi bank, with over $10,000 driven to Orlando to pay accomplices for beneficiary data; he also paid kickbacks to telemedicine companies for fraudulent doctors' orders.
- French was ordered to pay $110,753,619 in restitution and forfeit approximately $17 million that the government seized from his bank accounts and assets.
- Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert said the defendant "preyed on elderly patients and the families of disabled and deceased veterans," emphasizing HHS and OIG commitment to safeguarding taxpayer-funded programs.
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Former NFL Player Sentenced to Prison for $197M Medicare Fraud
Photo credit: depositphotos.com The Department of Justice announced that former NFL player Joel Rufus French, 47, was sentenced to 16+ years in prison and ordered to pay $110,753,619 in restitution after a years-long scheme to bilk Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) out of nearly $200 million. He also forfeited approximately $17 million that the government seized from bank account…
Former NFL player sentenced to more than 16 years in jail for nearly $200M of Medicare fraud: DOJ
Prosecutors said the defendant, Joel Rufus French, 47, of Armory, Mississippi, sold patient information and fraudulent doctors’ orders for orthotic braces that patients neither wanted nor needed.
Ex-college football star gets 16 years for $197M scheme that preyed on seniors and disabled veterans
Former Ole Miss All-American Rufus French was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in a $197 million fraud scheme targeting elderly Americans with orthotic braces.
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