Former Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis is one of 10 former NFL players who face charges for allegedly defrauding the league’s health program and using it for personal gains, USA TODAY reports.
An indictment released Thursday says the former players 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.
In addition to Portis, three other former Redskins are implicated in the scheme: Carlos Rogers, Robert McCune and John Eubanks.
A statement from Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski explains how the con allegedly worked.
“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.”
When asked to comment on the situation, Portis told ESPN’s John Keim, “I don’t have any comment on that,” but his lawyer expressed that the former running back had no knowledge that he was involved in this scheme.
According to the indictment, some of the players involved would recruit other former players to join the scheme. It was often carried out by fabricating letters from health-care providers about the use of medical equipment and fabricated prescriptions that created fake invoices from companies in an effort to prove that the equipment was purchased.
