The Justice Department issued the following statement.
A former NFL player who owned a marketing company and was the beneficial owner of eight durable medical equipment (DME) companies was sentenced yesterday to 196 months in prison for his role in a yearslong scheme to bilk Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) out of nearly $200 million by selling patient information and sham doctors’ orders for orthotic braces that patients did not want or need.
In addition to the prison sentence, the defendant, Joel Rufus French, 47, of Armory, Mississippi, was ordered to pay $110,753,619 in restitution and to forfeit approximately $17 million that the government seized from bank accounts and other assets.
“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. “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.”
“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: HHS‑OIG and our law enforcement partners remain steadfast in safeguarding taxpayer‑funded programs and ensuring those who seek to defraud them will be found, stopped, and held accountable.”
“Schemes such as these compromise the integrity of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) programs and services and divert funds from our nation’s deserving veterans and their families,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Greg Wentz of the VA Office of Inspector General (VA OIG) Southeast Field Office. “The VA OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to root out fraudsters and hold them accountable.”
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, French worked with overseas telemarketing call centers that pressured elderly Americans to provide their personal and health insurance information and agree to accept medically unnecessary orthotic braces. In certain instances, the call centers altered call recordings to make it seem like Medicare patients agreed to the braces when they did not.
French paid sham telemedicine companies kickbacks to obtain signed doctors’ orders from doctors and nurse practitioners who never examined, and often never even spoke to, the patients. He sold the orders to marketers and medical supply companies, which then submitted claims to Medicare. French also defrauded Medicare and CHAMPVA, the health care program for spouses and children of veterans who have or had a permanent and total service-connected disability or who died from a service-connected condition, by billing the programs for orthotic braces through eight DME supply companies that he owned and managed, using straw owners and false documents to hide his connection to the companies from Medicare. French also laundered approximately $225,000 in cash from a bank in Mississippi, over $10,000 of which was placed in a bag and driven to Orlando to pay accomplices who sold him beneficiaries’ personal and insurance information.
After a six-day jury trial ending in February, French was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to offer, pay, solicit, and receive kickbacks.
HHS-OIG, FBI, and VA OIG investigated the case.
Acting Assistant Chief Catherine Wagner and Trial Attorney William Hochul III of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section prosecuted the case.
On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the Fraud Division. The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.
The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, are taking steps to hold providers accountable for their involvement in health care fraud schemes. More information can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/health-care-fraud-unit.
Kingfish note: French earned All-American honors while playing Tight End at Ole Miss in 1998.
23 comments:
He played sportsball in Oxford! He’s a good kid! Set him free! Hotty Toddy!
“Armory, Mississippi”?
I thought that if you played ball for Ole Miss you have a "get out of jail free" card for life.
Rufus the Doofus
The wording, "...if you target America’s elderly, sick, or vulnerable — AND rob America’s purse doing so — you will be targeted and brought to justice.”
The way I'm reading it, the "and" is important. If you're ONLY targeting America's elderly, sick, or vulnerable, but you're not robbing America's purse, you're fine. Keep doing like you're doing. The government doesn't care.
And notice that the call centers are altering their recordings.
Is it any wonder, that people are choosing to risk dying, rather than risk the identity theft/sale of information/sale of phone numbers which accompany going to the doctor, these days? People would rather DIE.
Bobby Hall said He Was Good Kid…when he knew him
Seems to be something right wrong with a system that didn’t detect this magnitude of thievery before it reached that level.
this case was tried in tampa florida. he should have stayed in mississippi cause he probably would have gotten away with it.
$110,000,000 in restitution?! Daaayuumm!!
11;39 makes a good point.
the wrestler was acquitted on everything and farve did the same thing as the wrestler......and never got charged with so much as littering. all he had to do was give back the $ for the speaking engagements.
and the jury didn't think that was fair
11;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;23 makes a good point. this went on for YEARS before it was detected!
who are the people running these give away programs? what does it take to get fired over there?
if you work for CHAMPVA and medicare just how incompetent do you have be to get fired?
the government talks all about getting restitution...... recovery rates on that are very low it none. how muCH $ is rufus gonna have when he comes out of prison in 16 years.......? ill tell you ......NONE.
FBI agents that commit a crime get transferred to another city. Must be a reason
Hall of Fame to Hall of Shame !!
10:44 What does Bobby Hall have to do with this when Hall coached him 30 years ago. Let's slander French's first grad teacher while we are at it.
Sheesh...
Pfft. More ball-playin' trash.
He doesn't look nearly smart enough to figure out this criminal enterprise all by himself. Anybody know his GPA while he was matriculating at Old Myth?
Just Ole Miss people doing Ole Miss things...
Wonder what Brett Farve thinks of this result?
What's the nexus between Ole Miss and this criminality? Was the school involved? If not, why was it reported this way?
could he not get in front of judge whitwell
to 3:14 ill tell you......cause there is nothing in this state that cannot be tied to chickenshit college football.
I wounder how many of these scam are never identified and prosecuted.
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