ORLANDO, Fla. — A former NFL player has been found guilty by a federal jury in Florida for his involvement in a long-running scheme that defrauded Medicare and a federal health care program for veterans’ families out of nearly $200 million through fraudulent medical orders and the sale of patient data, according to prosecutors.
Joel Rufus French, 47, from Amory, Mississippi, was convicted in the Middle District of Florida of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to pay and receive illegal kickbacks. French ran a marketing firm and several durable medical equipment businesses linked to the scheme, as per court documents.
Prosecutors indicated that French collaborated with overseas call centers that targeted elderly Americans, including seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, to gather personal and insurance details and to coerce them into accepting unnecessary orthotic braces. In some instances, recordings of the calls were manipulated to misleadingly imply that patients had agreed to receive the devices.
“This defendant’s conduct was egregious: he targeted seniors suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia and billed Medicare for orthotic braces for deceased patients and amputees,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “These schemes undermine the integrity of our health care system by robbing taxpayer-funded programs meant for legitimate medical care. Today’s verdict sends a clear message: the Criminal Division will aggressively prosecute those who prey on our nation’s seniors and veterans to steal from Medicare.”
French subsequently compensated fake telemedicine companies to obtain signed orders from doctors and nurse practitioners who had neither examined nor, in many cases, even communicated with the patients, authorities reported. The fraudulent orders were then sold to marketers and medical supply firms, which billed Medicare for the braces.
Additionally, French utilized eight durable medical equipment companies that he owned and controlled to file false claims directly to Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs, known as CHAMPVA. Prosecutors stated that he employed false documents to hide his ownership of these companies from federal regulators.
“This scheme built on sham operations exploited seniors and corrupted the federal health care system. By falsifying doctors’ orders and selling patient information, the defendant sought to turn Medicare into their own personal ATM machine,” 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).
Evidence presented during the trial indicated that Medicare was charged for braces intended for amputees who lacked the limbs in question, as well as for patients who had already passed away.
Prosecutors further alleged that French withdrew approximately $225,000 in cash throughout the conspiracy, which included over $10,000 that was moved from Mississippi to Orlando to compensate accomplices who provided personal and insurance details of beneficiaries.
French is facing a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison for the health care fraud and wire fraud conspiracy charge, up to 10 years for the conspiracy to commit money laundering, and up to five years for the conspiracy to defraud the United States. A date for sentencing has yet to be determined.
