Former Washington running back Clinton Portis and two other former NFL players have pleaded guilty to health care fraud. according to a Justice Department press release.
On Tuesday, justice said Portis, Tamarick Vanover and Robert McCune pleaded guilty Aug. 24 to charges related to their involvement in a plan to defraud the NFL player health reimbursement account plan Gene Upshaw.
The reimbursement plan, established through the league’s collective agreement in 2006, provides former players with $ 350,000 a year in medical expenses that are not covered by insurance.
Portis allegedly filed false and fraudulent claims to the league’s retirement plan for two months and earned $ 99,264 in benefits for an expensive medical team that did not provide his plan, according to court documents.
Portis, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, played for the Washington football team and the Denver Broncos during their nine-year career.
Vanover, a former Florida State University standout, is accused of recruiting three other players into the plan and making $ 159,510 in profits.
McCune, a former Portis teammate, was the lead orchestrator of the scheme, which grossed nearly $ 2.9 million in profits, with the program paying off most of the money between June 2017 and April 2018, the Justice Department said. .
The three men join the growing list of NFL players who have pleaded guilty to the health scam. Others who have pleaded guilty are Joe Horn, Correll Buckhalter, Carlos Rogers and Donald “Reche” Caldwell, who was murdered in an attempted robbery in June 2020.
The sentencing of Portis and Vanover, who have agreed to pay what they took out of the plan, is scheduled for January. Each man faces a maximum sentence of ten years.
McCune, who is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 19, faces a maximum prison sentence for each charge in the health care plan, which could leave him in jail for life.