A former NFL player and owner of multiple durable medical equipment (DME) companies was sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison for orchestrating a massive health care fraud scheme that targeted Medicare and a veterans’ health program, officials announced this week.
Federal authorities said Joel Rufus French, 47, of Armory, Mississippi, used a network of companies to obtain and sell patient information and fraudulent doctors’ orders for orthotic braces that patients neither wanted nor medically needed.
French was sentenced to 196 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $110.7 million in restitution.
Quick Facts:
- Defendant: Joel Rufus French, 47
- Location: Armory, Mississippi
- Sentence: 196 months in federal prison
- Fraud Amount: Nearly $200 million
- Restitution Ordered: $110,753,619
- Assets Forfeited: Approximately $17 million
- Programs Targeted: Medicare and CHAMPVA
- Scheme: Selling patient data and sham doctors’ orders for unnecessary orthotic braces
According to prosecutors, French owned a marketing company and was the beneficial owner of eight DME companies involved in the fraudulent operation. The scheme generated false claims for orthopedic braces by exploiting patient information and bogus medical prescriptions.
The fraudulent claims were submitted to Medicare and the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA), a federal health care program serving veterans’ families and beneficiaries.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered French to forfeit approximately $17 million that federal investigators seized from bank accounts and other assets tied to the scheme.
Federal officials said the case is part of a broader crackdown on large-scale health care fraud operations involving unnecessary medical equipment and fraudulent billing practices.