DOJ says former NFL player Joel Rufus French ran a $197M health care fraud scheme tied to medically unnecessary orthotic braces. Prosecutors allege overseas telemarketing, sham telemedicine, and kickbacks drove claims to Medicare and VA-linked CHAMPVA.

Former NFL player Joel Rufus French was sentenced to 196 months in prison for a yearslong conspiracy involving health care fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. DOJ alleges the scheme targeted older adults and other vulnerable patients by using overseas telemarketing and sham telemedicine to generate medically unnecessary claims. Prosecutors further claim the fraud relied on kickbacks to obtain and process patient referrals tied to orthotic braces. DOJ states French used call centers to reach prospective patients, and also allegedly altered recordings to support false narratives about the need for braces. The government says straw-owned durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers were used to submit or facilitate the claims. The complaint describes how the conspiracy caused Medicare and VA-linked CHAMPVA to pay for services that allegedly were not medically necessary. In addition to the prison term, DOJ’s press release describes the case as part of broader federal enforcement against schemes that combine deceptive marketing, manipulated patient-support documentation, and the use of intermediaries to move fraudulent claims through the health care reimbursement system.