Former New Orleans Saints WR Joe Horn was charged with Pro Bowl RB Clinton Portis and several peers by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Former New Orleans Saints wide receiver Joe Horn found himself in hot water on Thursday, when the U.S. Department of Justice charged a group of 10 retired NFL players with defrauding a league health care plan. Unlike the other former players in this group, Horn is being charged with a bill of information after agreeing to cooperate with government authorities. Other names on the list include former Pro Bowl running back Clinton Portis and his Washington Redskins teammates Carlos Rogers, Robert McCune and John Eubanks. A handful of other ex-NFL players round out the group.
According to the charges detailed in the DOJ report, retired NFL players including Horn submitted fraudulent claims totaling $3.9 million, with the league reimbursing $3.4 million of them between June 2018 and December 2018. Claims were made for expensive medical equipment in the range of $40,000 to $50,000 such as cryotherapy saunas, hyperbaric chambers, and electromagnetic therapy devices, but that equipment was never purchased.
Horn is charged along with the other defendants on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, but nine individual counts of wire fraud and nine different counts of health care fraud are also on the table. Penalties for these counts are as steep as 20 years in prison and up to $250,000.
It’s a developing story, and one worth watching as prosecutors proceed forwards. Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski held a press conference to announce the charges, saying, “Ten former NFL players allegedly committed a brazen, multimillion-dollar fraud on a health care plan meant to help their former teammates and other retired players pay legitimate, out-of-pocket medical expenses. Today’s indictments underscore that, whoever you are, if you loot health care programs to line your own pockets, you will be held accountable by the Department of Justice.”
This is certainly a disappointing turn for Horn, who played 103 of his 165 career NFL games with the Saints. He was one of the team’s most prominent players in the early 2000’s, though he lasted only 10 games once Saints coach Sean Payton was hired in 2006.
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