One former football star is going to be behind bars for over a decade.
Joel Rufus French was sentenced to 196 months in prison for his role in defrauding Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs out of $197 million, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
French will also have to pay $110,753,619 in restitution and give up the nearly $17 million the government took from his bank accounts and other assets on his ledger.
The former tight end, who was a unanimous All-American in 1998 with Ole Miss, was convicted in February in a six-day trial on charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to offer, pay, solicit and receive kickbacks.
action during a game against the Auburn Tigers
at the Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi. Getty Images
The DOJ said evidence at trial showed how French worked with foreign telemarketer call centers that targeted elderly Americans, pushing them to accept “unnecessary” orthotic braces.
Through the scheme, French was also able to obtain health insurance and personal information from these people.
The DOJ also said French paid kickbacks to “sham telemedicine companies” to get signed doctors’ orders from medical professionals who never examined and sometimes never saw patients.
According to the release, French then sold these doctors’ orders to marketers and the medical supply companies. Those places then submitted claims to Medicare.
The DOJ added that call centers also altered recordings to make it seem as if patients agreed to braces when they had not done so.
during the game against the SMU Mustangs at the Cotton Bowl in
Dallas, Texas. Getty Images
“Fueled by lies, bribes, and overseas telemarketers, this corrupt scheme preyed on senior citizens and disabled veterans to flood the country with unnecessary medical devices — and then billed the taxpayer for it,” Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division said. “Today’s sentence makes clear that if you target America’s elderly, sick, or vulnerable — and rob America’s purse doing so — you will be targeted and brought to justice.”
French played at Ole Miss from 1996-98 and was a two-time All-SEC first team member in his final two years.
He went undrafted but signed with the Seahawks, spending 1999 and 2000 with them before his release in ’01.
He moved on to the Packers in ’02 but was cut during training camp.
His son, Charleston French, is a running back on Bill Belichick’s North Carolina team.
