A former player for the Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks is now facing punishment after the Department of Justice (DOJ) connected him to a massive $200 million healthcare fraud scheme. The scam targeted seniors and disabled veterans by using stolen patient information and fake doctors’ orders to bill Medicare and Veterans Affairs programs for medical equipment patients did not need.

“A former NFL player who was a member of the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for a years-long scheme that bilked Medicare and the Department of Veterans Affairs out of $200 million,” FOX 29 posted on X.

Former Ole Miss tight end Joel Rufus French was convicted in February after a six-day trial on charges tied to healthcare fraud, money laundering, wire fraud, and illegal kickback schemes.

In April 2024, French was charged in connection with a fraud case. Federal prosecutors said French owned a marketing company and was the beneficial owner of eight durable medical equipment companies. Authorities said he orchestrated a scheme involving the sale of patient information and fraudulent doctors’ orders for orthotic braces that patients neither wanted nor medically needed.

Court documents showed that French also laundered approximately $225,000 in cash from a Mississippi bank. More than $10,000 was reportedly carried in a bag to Orlando to pay people who provided patients’ personal and insurance details.

In addition to the 16-year prison sentence, French was ordered to pay $110.75 million in restitution. French is required to forfeit about $17 million that had been confiscated by the government from the fraudulent activity.

Before his legal troubles, French was a standout football player at the University of Mississippi, where he played from 1996 through 1998. The tight end earned first-team All-SEC honors in each of his final two seasons and was a unanimous All-American in 1998.

French later signed with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent and spent the 1999 and 2000 seasons with the organization before being released in 2001. He later joined the Green Bay Packers during training camp in 2002 but was released before the regular season. He did not appear in an NFL regular-season game.

Joel French’s $200 million fraud scheme

According to prosecutors, Joel Rufus French built a massive healthcare fraud operation that relied on overseas call centers, fake medical approvals, and misleading sales tactics to target elderly Americans and disabled veterans.

According to the DOJ, French collaborated with foreign telemarketing call centers that pressured senior citizens into buying orthotic braces that were not required. The callers convinced the patients to provide their personal details and insurance details, making it seem like the devices were medical necessities

In some cases, authorities said the call centers even altered recorded calls to falsely suggest that Medicare patients had agreed to receive the devices.

French also paid kickbacks to sham telemedicine companies in exchange for signed doctors’ orders. Those approvals reportedly came from doctors and nurse practitioners who never examined, and in many cases never even spoke with, the patients involved. Once the paperwork was obtained, French allegedly sold the doctors’ orders to marketers and medical supply companies, which then billed Medicare and CHAMPVA.

According to the DOJ, French made use of eight durable medical equipment companies to facilitate the fraudulent claims, concealing his role behind straw men and false documentation.

“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 said.

According to McDonald, the case serves as a warning that healthcare fraud schemes targeting seniors, veterans, and taxpayer-funded programs will continue to face aggressive prosecution.