Former NFL Player Sentenced to 16 Years for Defrauding Medicare and VA of $200 Million A former NFL player, Joel Rufus French, 47, of Armory, Mississippi, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for orchestrating a multiyear scheme that defrauded Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) out of $200 million. French, a former member of the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, operated a marketing company and controlled eight durable medical equipment (DME) firms. His scheme involved selling patient information and falsifying medical orders to submit fraudulent claims for orthotic braces, which patients did not need or want. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that French collaborated with overseas telemarketing call centers to target elderly patients, pressuring them to share personal and health insurance details. In some cases, call recordings were altered to falsely indicate Medicare beneficiaries had agreed to receive orthotic braces. French also paid kickbacks to sham telemedicine companies to obtain fraudulent doctors’ orders from physicians and nurse practitioners who never examined the patients. These orders were then sold to marketers and medical supply firms, which submitted claims to Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA). French further exploited the system by billing Medicare and CHAMPVA through eight DME supply companies he owned, using straw owners and fabricated documents to conceal his involvement. Court records show he laundered approximately $225,000 in cash, with over $10,000 transported to Orlando to pay accomplices who provided stolen beneficiary information.#green_bay_packers #seattle_seahawks #department_of_health_and_human_services #joel_rufus_french #u_s_department_of_justice
