Joel Rufus French

Sentenced to 196 months (over 16 years) in prison. Ordered to pay $110,753,619 in restitution and forfeit approximately $17 million in seized assets.

Former NFL player Joel French was sentenced to 196 months in prison for orchestrating a $197 million Medicare and CHAMPVA fraud scheme. Using overseas telemarketing call centers, sham telemedicine companies, and eight durable medical equipment (DME) companies, French targeted elderly Americans and disabled veterans with medically unnecessary orthotic braces.

French worked with overseas telemarketers who pressured elderly Americans to provide personal and insurance information for orthotic braces they did not need. Call recordings were altered to fabricate patient consent. French paid sham telemedicine companies kickbacks to obtain signed doctors' orders from practitioners who never examined patients. He sold orders to marketers and medical supply companies that submitted claims to Medicare. He also owned eight DME companies using straw owners and false documents to hide his involvement, laundering approximately $225,000 in cash. The conspiracy involved conspiracy to commit health care fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and kickback violations.