MS man charged in $70 million Medicare fraud scheme

JACKSON, Miss. ( WJTV ) – An indictment was unsealed last week in Florida charging a Mississippi man for his alleged role in a more than $70 million fraud scheme. Prosecutors said the scheme involved the payment of kickbacks and bribes to obtain doctors’ orders for medically unnecessary durable medical equipment (DME).

Joel Rufus French, 46, of Amory, made his initial appearance on April 11 in Oxford, Mississippi. French is a former Ole Miss football player.

According to court documents, French managed multiple DME companies without disclosing his role to Medicare. Prosecutors said he and his co-conspirators used the DME companies to bill Medicare for orthotic braces that were obtained using doctors’ orders that were procured through illegal kickbacks and bribes, medically unnecessary, not provided as billed, and ineligible for Medicare reimbursement.

French also allegedly obtained Medicare beneficiary information and paid kickbacks and bribes for doctors’ orders for DME. According to court documents, French generated and sold doctors’ orders for orthotic braces to suppliers and brokers in exchange for millions in kickbacks and bribes. He is also alleged to have participated in a scheme to launder certain proceeds of his schemes.

French has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. If convicted, French faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud count, as well as on the conspiracy to commit money laundering count. French faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks count.

The FBI Tampa Field Office and HHS-OIG are investigating the case.

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