{"id":131246,"date":"2026-05-08T15:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/ex-college-football-star-gets-16-years-for-197m-scheme-that-preyed-on-seniors-and-disabled-veterans-131246"},"modified":"2026-05-08T15:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T19:03:44","slug":"ex-college-football-star-gets-16-years-for-197m-scheme-that-preyed-on-seniors-and-disabled-veterans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/ex-college-football-star-gets-16-years-for-197m-scheme-that-preyed-on-seniors-and-disabled-veterans-131246","title":{"rendered":"Ex-college football star gets 16 years for $197M scheme that preyed on seniors and disabled veterans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A college football standout<\/a> was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday for his role in a $197 million fraud scheme.<\/p>\n

Rufus French participated in a yearslong scheme<\/a> in which he sold patient information and shammed doctors\u2019 orders for orthotic braces that patients did not want or need.<\/p>\n

“Fueled by lies, bribes, and overseas telemarketers, this corrupt scheme preyed on senior citizens and disabled veterans to flood the country with unnecessary medical devices \u2014 and then billed the taxpayer for it,” said Assistant Attorney General<\/a> Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department\u2019s National Fraud Enforcement Division.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Today\u2019s sentence makes clear that if you target America\u2019s elderly, sick, or vulnerable \u2014 and rob America\u2019s purse doing so \u2014 you will be targeted and brought to justice.”<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice said French worked with overseas telemarketers that pressured elderly Americans to provide their health information and agree to accept unnecessary braces. The telemarketers would alter call recordings to make it sound like the patients agreed to the braces if they had not.<\/p>\n

French paid fraudulent companies to get signed doctors\u2019 orders, despite oftentimes never interacting with the patients.<\/p>\n

FOUR MORE WOMEN ACCUSE FORMER NFL PLAYER OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AMID EXISTING ALLEGATIONS: “BLATANT LIES”<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

French was convicted of conspiracy to commit health care<\/a> fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to offer, pay, solicit, and receive kickbacks.<\/p>\n

He was also ordered to pay nearly $111 million in restitution and forfeit roughly $17 million that the government seized from bank accounts.<\/p>\n

French’s son, Charleston, plays football for Bill Belichick<\/a> at the University of North Carolina.<\/p>\n

French starred at Ole Miss and was twice a First-team All-SEC tight end \u2014 he was also a unanimous All-American in 1998.<\/p>\n

He went undrafted in the 1999 NFL Draft<\/a> but managed to play in two seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.<\/p>\n

Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>sports coverage on X<\/em><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0and subscribe to\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/ex-college-football-star-gets-16-years-197m-scheme-preyed-seniors-disabled-veterans <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A college football standout was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday for his role in a $197 million fraud scheme. Rufus French participated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-131246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEx-college football star gets 16 years for $197M scheme that preyed on seniors and disabled veterans - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/ex-college-football-star-gets-16-years-for-197m-scheme-that-preyed-on-seniors-and-disabled-veterans-131246\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ex-college football star gets 16 years for $197M scheme that preyed on seniors and disabled veterans - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A college football standout was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday for his role in a $197 million fraud scheme. 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