Ten former NFL players, including former Washington Redskins star running back Clinton Portis, have been charged in a brazen $3.9 million scheme to submit false claims to a health program run by the league, prosecutors said Thursday.
The players are accused in indictments filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Kentucky of claiming reimbursements for expensive medical equipment that was never actually purchased.
The equipment included hyperbaric oxygen chambers, cryotherapy devices, ultrasound equipment used to perform imaging on pregnant women, and even electromagnetic therapy devices used to treat horses, the government said.
The defendants allegedly fabricated documentation to submit for the claims, including invoices, prescriptions and letters of medical necessity, according to the Justice Department.
More than $3.9 million in false and fraudulent claims were filed, and the plan paid out more than $3.4 million from June 2017 through December 2018, according to prosecutors.