Ex-NFL Player Gets 16+ Years for $200 Million Brace Fraud — Joining a Fugitive Researcher and ‘Lean’ Dealers Who Exploited the Sick, the Elderly, and Veterans’ Families
A former NFL player was sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison for orchestrating a nearly $200 million health care fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary orthotic braces billed to Medicare and a federal program serving veterans’ families, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
Joel Rufus French, 47, of Armory, Mississippi, received a 196-month prison sentence after being convicted earlier this year on charges including conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy involving illegal kickbacks.
Federal prosecutors said French owned a marketing company and secretly controlled eight durable medical equipment companies that submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, known as CHAMPVA.
“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,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division.
In addition to the prison term, French was ordered to pay more than $110.7 million in restitution and forfeit roughly $17 million seized from bank accounts and other assets.
According to evidence presented during a six-day trial, French worked with overseas telemarketing call centers that targeted elderly Americans and persuaded them to provide personal and insurance information in exchange for orthotic braces they often did not need or request. Prosecutors said some recordings were altered to falsely indicate patients had consented to receive the braces.
French paid kickbacks to tele-medicine companies to secure doctors’ orders from physicians and nurse practitioners who frequently never examined or even spoke with the patients. The signed orders were then sold to marketers and medical supply companies that billed Medicare for reimbursement.
“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). “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.”
It was alleged French used straw owners and falsified records to conceal his control of the medical equipment companies submitting claims to Medicare and CHAMPVA, a federal health care program for spouses and children of disabled or deceased veterans.
The government said the scheme generated nearly $197 million in fraudulent billings.
Investigators also accused French of laundering money connected to the operation, including transporting more than $225,000 in cash from a Mississippi bank. More than $10,000 of the money was allegedly delivered in a bag to accomplices in Orlando who supplied beneficiaries’ personal and insurance information.
Tech Owner Convicted in $1 Billion Medicare Braces Fraud — Foreign Call Centers, Fake Exams, and a Platform That Preyed on the Elderly
A federal jury in South Florida has convicted the owner of a health care software company for his role in a massive Medicare fraud scheme that prosecutors said generated more than $1 billion in false claims for medically unnecessary medical equipment.
Brett Blackman, 42, of Johnson County, Kansas, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and make false statements in connection with health care matters.
Federal prosecutors said Blackman owned and operated HealthSplash, a company that acquired an internet-based platform known as DMERx in 2017. Authorities alleged the platform was used to generate fraudulent doctors’ orders and prescriptions for durable medical equipment, including orthotic braces, that were not medically necessary.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said, “This illegitimate operation stole more than $1 billion from American taxpayers — including hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries. This was cold, calculated, industrial-scale theft targeting the sick and elderly, coercing vulnerable people into buying unnecessary medical equipment. We will not rest until every fraudster ripping off the American people is held accountable.”
According to evidence presented at trial, Blackman and his co-conspirators targeted hundreds of thousands of Medicare beneficiaries through foreign call centers and mass marketing campaigns. Patients were persuaded to accept braces and other medical products, prosecutors said, after which telemedicine companies were paid illegal kickbacks to obtain signed orders from doctors and nurse practitioners.
The doctors frequently had little or no interaction with the patients before approving the prescriptions, according to prosecutors. In some cases, the orders falsely claimed physicians had performed in-person medical evaluations and tests that never occurred.
The operation ultimately submitted more than $1 billion in fraudulent claims, with Medicare and other insurers paying out more than $450 million. Blackman and his associates connected telemedicine providers with pharmacies, marketers and durable medical equipment suppliers that used the prescriptions to bill Medicare and other federal health care programs.
“The defendant orchestrated a massive telemarketing scheme that used foreign call centers and spam mailers to target our country’s senior citizens and defraud government health care benefit programs,” said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division. “The Fraud Division will continue to aggressively prosecute health care fraud schemes, hold criminals accountable, and protect the integrity of America’s health care system.”
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence from an undercover investigation in which an agent posed as a Medicare beneficiary. The undercover agent was pressured by a foreign call center into agreeing to multiple braces, and a physician later signed medical orders through the DMERx platform without ever speaking to the supposed patient. The conspirators attempted to conceal the scheme through sham contracts and by altering doctors’ orders to avoid Medicare audits.
Blackman’s co-defendant, Gary Cox, was convicted in an earlier trial and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Blackman faces up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud count, along with additional penalties on the kickback and false statement conspiracy charges. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26, 2026.
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