Former Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis and former New Orleans Saints’ wide receiver Joe Horn are among a group of former NFL players that have been charged with defrauding the league’s health program, according to ESPN.
A group of 12 facing charges in the Eastern District of Kentucky, the Department of Justice announced officially on Thursday. They are accused of filing more than $3.9 million in fraudulent claims, of which more than $3.4 million were paid from June 2017 to December 2018.
Additionally, the Department of Justice said it will seek charges against two others, including Horn.
“Ten former NFL players allegedly committed a brazen, multimillion-dollar fraud on a health care plan meant to help their former teammates and other retired players pay legitimate, out-of-pocket medical expenses,” Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said. “Today’s indictments underscore that, whoever you are, if you loot health care programs to line your own pockets, you will be held accountable by the Department of Justice.”
The others charged are Robert McCune, John Eubanks, Tamarick Vanover, Carlos Rogers, Ceandris Brown, James Butler, Fred Bennett, Correll Buckhalter and Etric Pruitt, and the government intends to charge Donald “Reche” Caldwell.
Portis was reached by ESPN’s John Keim and said, “I don’t have any comment on that.”
The indictments state that the players made claims for expensive pieces of medical equipment, such as hyperbaric oxygen chambers, cryotherapy machines, ultrasound machines and electromagnetic therapy devices. However, those items weren’t purchased or received. A typical claim was for $40,000 to $50,000 and several of the former players are accused of recruiting other players to join the scheme and would make the claims in return for kickbacks of up to $10,000.
Furthemore, the group allegedly fabricated letters from health care providers about using the medical equipment, fabricated prescriptions that were purportedly signed by health care providers and created fake invoices from medical equipment companies in an effort to prove the equipment was purchased.