A Mississippi man has been charged with multiple counts in connection with a $70 million Medicare fraud by the Department of Justice.

An indictment was filed in Tampa last week for Joel Rufus French, 46, who appeared when summoned in Oxford, Mississippi. The FBI's Tampa office and HHS-OIG are investigating the case.

A person is accused of defrauding millions of dollars

French allegedly used bribes to obtain doctors' orders to obtain unnecessary quantities of durable medical equipment (DME). The accused had also created a network of associates who took bribes and kickbacks in an elaborate scheme involving orthotic braces.

Initial court documents noted that French did not disclose his status or role while running multiple DME companies in Medicare. French would then use the fraudulently obtained doctor's orders to allegedly charge Medicare for the $70 million reimbursement.

Release from Department of Justice said the charges against French include “conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.”

The Justice Department's Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, comprised of “nine strike forces operating in 27 federal districts, has charged more than 5,400 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers over more than 27 billion dollars”.

If convicted of these crimes, French could face maximum sentences of twenty-five years for each of the charges brought against him.

This would be one of three medical fraud cases the Justice Department filed this week. A New Jersey doctor was convicted of illegal distribution oxycodone and two other doctors were convicted of their participation in a fraud drug testing scheme.

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