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I wonder which one of these guys was the brains of the operation
The Justice Department charged 10 former NFL players, including a group of former Washington Redskins that includes running back Clinton Portis and cornerback Carlos Rogers, with defrauding a health care program for retired players of nearly $4 million, according to court documents. The Department also said it intends to file charges against two other players as well.
After an FBI investigation, the Justice Department filed charges Thursday morning in the Eastern District of Kentucky against Robert McCune, John Eubanks, Tamarick Vanover, Ceandris Brown, James Butler, Frederick Bennett, Correll Buckhalter, Etric Pruitt, Portis and Rogers.government also intends to charge former NFL wide receivers Joe Horn and Reche Caldwell with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to a news release.
Four former NFL players were arrested Thursday morning, and the others, including Portis, are expected to surrender at some point today. The arrested include: McCune in Georgia, Eubanks in Mississippi, Brown in Texas and Rogers in Georgia.
The players allegedly submitted false claims to the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan for reimbursement for medical equipment — such as hyperbaric chambers, cryotherapy machines and ultrasound machines — costing between $40,000 and $50,000. The players recruited others into their scheme by offering to submit false claims in exchange for “kickbacks” and bribes that ranged up $10,000, according to the indictments. The players fabricated documents, including invoices and prescriptions, to execute the plan, according to the indictments.
The players filed $3.9 million in false claims, and between June 2017 and December 2018, the health plan paid them more than $3.4 million on those claims, according to the court documents.
“The expensive medical equipment described in the Reimbursement Request Forms that the Defendants submitted or caused to be submitted to the Plan were never purchased or received from the Participant, and the invoices from medical equipment companies, letters from health care providers, and prescriptions from health care providers accompanying the Reimbursement Request Forms were all fabricated,” the indictment reads.
In a statement, assistant attorney general Brian Benczkowski said, “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. 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.”
Mark Dycio, an attorney for Portis who has also represented other Redskins on legal matters, said his client was innocent.
“Clinton Portis had no knowledge that his participation in what he believed to be an NFL sanctioned medical reimbursement program was illegal,” Dycio said. “He is completely taken aback by this indictment and will move forward with the process of clearing his good name and those of his fellow NFL alumni.”
Portis, 38, played for the Redskins from 2004 to 2010, becoming a fan favorite for both his soaring talent and off-field whimsy. During one playoff run, Portis dressed up for media interviews as a different character each week, introducing the world to “Sheriff Gonna Getcha,” “Coach Janky Spanky,” and “Dr. Do Itch Big.”
Portis made $43.1 million in the NFL, but after his playing days ended, he fell into financial despair. He told Sports Illustrated in 2017 that fraudsters posing as money managers drained his retirement. In 2013, Portis told the magazine, he waited outside an office building for the swindlers to emerge with a loaded pistol in his car, intent on murdering them until a friend called and convinced him not to.
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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee
It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.
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