Clinton Portis among retired NFL players facing federal fraud charges

[Kyle]

Clinton Portis, a former Pro Bowl running back, is among several former NFL players who are facing federal charges in an alleged scheme to defraud the league’s health care program for retired players.

The scheme involved submissions of fake claims that involved expensive medical equipment ranging between $40,000 and $50,000 for each claim, officials said. The medical equipment included “hyperbaric oxygen chambers, cryotherapy machines, ultrasound machines designed for use by a doctor’s office to conduct women’s health examinations and electromagnetic therapy devices designed for use on a horse.”

McCune, Eubans, Vanover, Buckhalter, Rogers and others allegedly recruited other players into the scheme by offering to submit the false claims for kickbacks and bribes, officials said. The bribes and kickbacks ranged from a few thousand dollars to up to $10,000 per claim.

Clinton Portis among retired NFL players facing federal fraud charges

Former running back Clinton Portis is among several retired players who were charged Thursday over an alleged scheme to defraud the NFL’s health care benefit program, federal authorities announced.

www.foxnews.com

 

[GregV814]

The National FELONS LEAGUE...No use in being one...

 

[officeguy]

This dildo went through 43mil lifetime earnings and has nothing to show for it.

 

[WingsOfGold]

If Blue Cross is good enough for many people but not the NFL tell the union goons to strike and shove it up their arses.

 

[BernieP]

If Blue Cross is good enough for many people but not the NFL tell the union goons to strike and shove it up their arses.

Let's be fair, a commercial carrier would drop them like a hot potato. I would not want to have their medical bills with Blue Cross or any other insurance company. Some of those guys will have surgery and therapy from their injuries for the rest of their lives.
Both the players and the owners have paid into the fund. The issue is ripping the fund off with false claims to just get cash.
Three things should happen if they are found guilty;

1. they have to pay restitution
2. they lose their rights under the CBA and are no longer members of the union or the plan.
3. they do some time

 

[officeguy]

Let's be fair, a commercial carrier would drop them like a hot potato. I would not want to have their medical bills with Blue Cross or any other insurance company. Some of those guys will have surgery and therapy from their injuries for the rest of their lives.

This is a self-insured health plan with Cigna acting as the third party administrator. They don't bear the risk, they just process the claims.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Let's be fair, a commercial carrier would drop them like a hot potato. I would not want to have their medical bills with Blue Cross or any other insurance company. Some of those guys will have surgery and therapy from their injuries for the rest of their lives.
Both the players and the owners have paid into the fund. The issue is ripping the fund off with false claims to just get cash.
Three things should happen if they are found guilty;

1. they have to pay restitution
2. they lose their rights under the CBA and are no longer members of the union or the plan.
3. they do some time

I have little sympathy for them even tho I have been to and watched hundreds of games. Compare them to not so long ago yesteryear, Unitas died a cripple and broke, NFLPA and the NFL shlt on him.
Your 3 options are all good I'd rank them 1, 3 and 2.

 

[BernieP]

I have little sympathy for them even tho I have been to and watched hundreds of games. Compare them to not so long ago yesteryear, Unitas died a cripple and broke, NFLPA and the NFL shlt on him.
Your 3 options are all good I'd rank them 1, 3 and 2.

Unfortunately it comes down to money, when Unitas played most of the players had off season jobs to pay the bills. Pro Sports in general wasn't the road to great wealth. I think the NFLPA and the NFL have amended the bylaws to now grandfather n those players who retired before the union and CBA were put in place. I think there was some embarrassment to the league when players from the past were in poor health and couldn't get proper care.
Trust me, I don't feel sorry for the players, they made the choice of career, if they didn't know the risks, they should have.
There are some really smart guys playing who know how to invest. I think there is one player who banks his entire salary and lives off of things like meal money and bonuses. Also the big trend is the deferred payments. For example, Strasberg's new contract has deferred money, he won't get his entire salary, it will be paid out to him well after he retires. Mutually beneficial with the huge contracts.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Strasberg

Give me several handfuls of millions of dollars I could probably stretch it out for a few lifetimes without pissing it away.

 

[officeguy]

There are some really smart guys playing who know how to invest. I think there is one player who banks his entire salary and lives off of things like meal money and bonuses. Also the big trend is the deferred payments. For example, Strasberg's new contract has deferred money, he won't get his entire salary, it will be paid out to him well after he retires. Mutually beneficial with the huge contracts.

Most of these guys would do better by just sticking their income into a stock/bonds mutual fund and drawing it down once they retire. The snakes who 'help' them to 'invest' the money take a percentage off the top, have their hand in the cookie-jar on everything they put them into and walk away with their commission the moment they have sucked another one dry. 43mil after taxes is 25m cash. That should last for a long time even if invested conservatively.

 

[littlelady]

I hate football. I witnessed the quarterback of the football team of my HS in NOLA die on the field. That was in 1970. That was it for me. I wonder what these corrupt players, and players like Kapernick would think about that? Oh wait, they are players. Never mind.

 

[BOP]

Let's be fair, a commercial carrier would drop them like a hot potato. I would not want to have their medical bills with Blue Cross or any other insurance company. Some of those guys will have surgery and therapy from their injuries for the rest of their lives.
Both the players and the owners have paid into the fund. The issue is ripping the fund off with false claims to just get cash.
Three things should happen if they are found guilty;

1. they have to pay restitution
2. they lose their rights under the CBA and are no longer members of the union or the plan.
3. they do some time

While I like your thinking, that's not how unions roll, and that's why 97% of the country's work-force is non-union*.

*okay, maybe that's a gross over-simplification, or exaggeration, but much of the working class does not favor unions, not because they have (or had) no potential redeeming value, but because they've morphed into an organization (lumping all unions together as a kind of monolith) that defends the indefensible, enriching their upper echelon and the demonrat party.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I hate football. I witnessed the quarterback of the football team of my HS in NOLA die on the field. That was in 1970. That was it for me. I wonder what these corrupt players, and players like Kapernick would think about that? Oh wait, they are players. Never mind.

People have died playing hopscotch,just saying.

 

[itsbob]

and the media is making excuses for them.

 

[BernieP]

While I like your thinking, that's not how unions roll, and that's why 97% of the country's work-force is non-union*.

*okay, maybe that's a gross over-simplification, or exaggeration, but much of the working class does not favor unions, not because they have (or had) no potential redeeming value, but because they've morphed into an organization (lumping all unions together as a kind of monolith) that defends the indefensible, enriching their upper echelon and the demonrat party.

Players Associations have a slightly different purpose and without them the leagues would be thrown into chaos because by law they would cease to become a league, rules, controls, etc. would be thrown out the window. The owners are exempt from anti-trust laws because of the role of the players association.
The PAs get the right to negotiate for basic contractual rules for the players and agree to handle the money for things like insurance, etc..
The owners in turn get to set salary caps and hold a draft, as well as trade players. They get to operate as a league. Otherwise they would have to operate as separate business entities and compete on all levels. There would be no national TV coverage as each team would be free to negotiate on their own. If you want to see which franchises would flourish in a totally free market, look at the rankings of media markets.
Here's the 2019 rankings and it's not linear. Notice that some NFL cities are not listed, like Baltimore, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Green Bay Kansas City, Nashville, Buffalo. The same would apply in MLB, NHL and NBA.

1	New York, NY
2	Los Angeles, CA
3	Chicago, IL
4	Philadelphia, PA
5	Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX
6	Washington (Hagerstown), DC-MD
7	Houston, TX
8	San Francisco-Oak-San Jose)
9	Boston (Manchester)
10	Atlanta
11	Tampa-St. Pete (Sarasota)
12	Phoenix (Prescott)
13	Seattle-Tacoma
14	Detroit, MI
15	Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
16	Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL
17	Denver, CO
18	Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, FL
19	Cleveland-Akron (Canton), OH
20	Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA
21	St. Louis, MO
22	Portland, OR
23	Charlotte, NC
24	Pittsburgh, PA
25	Raleigh-Durham (Fayetteville), NC
26	Baltimore, MD
27	Nashville, TN
28	Indianapolis, IN
29	San Diego, CA
30	Salt Lake City, UT

 

[Ken King]

Notice that some NFL cities are not listed, like Baltimore, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Green Bay Kansas City, Nashville, Buffalo.

Aren't the three bolded above listed as #26, #19, and #27?

 

[WingsOfGold]

Players Associations have a slightly different purpose and without them the leagues would be thrown into chaos because by law they would cease to become a league, rules, controls, etc. would be thrown out the window. The owners are exempt from anti-trust laws because of the role of the players association.
The PAs get the right to negotiate for basic contractual rules for the players and agree to handle the money for things like insurance, etc..
The owners in turn get to set salary caps and hold a draft, as well as trade players. They get to operate as a league. Otherwise they would have to operate as separate business entities and compete on all levels. There would be no national TV coverage as each team would be free to negotiate on their own.

The NFL would survive just fine without the union. From 1950 on some games were televised every week. I detest unions as a whole with few exceptions, LEO's being one, don't like the employer... go elsewhere or start your own business and pay what you like. Just my .02.

 

[littlelady]

People have died playing hopscotch,just saying.

I have never heard of death by hopscotch. Do you have a link? Thanks.

This is what I got when searching. https://www.bing.com/search?q=death...30AE2728694DF298C42DD50689AFBF&FORM=QBLH&sp=1

 

[BernieP]

The NFL would survive just fine without the union. From 1950 on some games were televised every week. I detest unions as a whole with few exceptions, LEO's being one, don't like the employer... go elsewhere or start your own business and pay what you like. Just my .02.

I think you forget that when Curt Flood sue Major League Baseball the rules got turned on their head. Prior to that, players basically had no rights, once they signed with a team, they became the property of that team. That brought about free agency and the players associations.
Without those two actions congress can and would revoke the anti-trust exemption all the leagues enjoy. All the professional leagues are run by the owners, who are supposed to be individual businesses and theoretically they should compete, but by agreeing to set up rules and govern the transfer of player, etc. the owners would be found in violation of the law. Without that "collusion" the leagues couldn't operate, for example, teams could steal signs, spy, record, and recruit players from their opponent.

The money wasn't what it is today. A game check today is probably twice what the highest paid player got for the entire season.
The NFL is huge business and parity a major part of the reason. It's said that in football, between the draft and free agency a team can go from worst to first in one off season. The deciding factor is ownership, management and coaching. Without the anti-trust exemption there would be no draft, that would be collusion.

 

[WingsOfGold]

It's said that in football, between the draft and free agency a team can go from worst to first in one off season. The deciding factor is ownership, management and coaching. Without the anti-trust exemption there would be no draft, that would be collusion.

This is fact... well except for the Clowns of Cleveland. Snakebit and cursed forever.