Ex-Ole Miss All-American tight end Rufus French gets 16 years for $197 million Medicare brace fraud

A former college football standout received a 16-year prison sentence Friday for his role in a $197 million fraud scheme.

Rufus French took part in a yearslong operation that involved selling patient information and faking doctors' orders for orthotic braces patients did not want or need.

"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 — and then billed the taxpayer for it," said Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division.

"Today’s sentence makes clear that if you target America’s elderly, sick, or vulnerable — and rob America’s purse doing so — you will be targeted and brought to justice."

The Department of Justice said French worked with overseas telemarketers who pressured elderly Americans to provide health information and agree to receive unneeded braces. The telemarketers altered call recordings to make it appear patients had consented when they had not.

French paid fraudulent companies to obtain signed doctors' orders, often without ever contacting the patients.

A jury convicted French of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to offer, pay, solicit, and receive kickbacks.

The judge also ordered French to pay nearly $111 million in restitution and forfeit about $17 million seized from bank accounts.

French's son, Charleston, plays football for Bill Belichick at the University of North Carolina.

French starred at Ole Miss as a tight end. He earned First-team All-SEC honors twice and was a unanimous All-American in 1998.

He went undrafted in the 1999 NFL Draft but played two seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.