Former New York Giants safety James Butler, a starting safety on the team’s Super Bowl XLII squad that upended the undefeated New England Patriots, is one of 10 former NFL players being charged in a “brazen” scheme to defraud the league’s health care benefit program.
Per the New York Daily News, Butler and nine other ex-players “targeted the targeted the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan and submitted nearly $4 million ‘in false and fraudulent claims,’ according to the Justice Department.”
Also charged are Carlos Rogers, Clinton Portis, Robert McCune, John Eubanks, Tamarick Vanover, Ceandris Brown, Fredrick Bennett, Correll Buckhalter and Etric Pruitt. Five of the players, including Portis and Rogers, played for the Washington franchise.
Two separate indictments involving the 10 athletes were filed in the Eastern District of Kentucky, federal authorities said Thursday.
Butler was an undrafted safety out of Georgia Tech in 2005 and signed with the Giants, playing through the 2008 season. He started all four postseason games during the Giants’ Super Bowl run and led the Giants in tackles in Super Bowl XLII with 10.
After his career with the Giants concluded in 2008, Butler followed Steve Spagnuolo to the then-St. Louis Rams where his played the remainder of his career, which ended in 2012.
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