MIAMI – Former University of Miami and NFL running back Clinton Portis has pled guilty to committing health care fraud.
Portis and two other former NFL players, Tamarick Vanover and Robert McCune, have now entered guilty pleas.
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Vanover and Portis pled guilty on Friday, Sept. 3 while McCune pled guilty on Aug. 24, according to a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Per the release, the three men participated in a scheme to defraud the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan.
Portis was accused of submitting false medical expense claims and obtaining nearly $100,000 in benefits.
Authorities said McCune was the mastermind of the scheme and obtained nearly $2.9 million from fraudulent claims that he submitted.
Vanover is accused of obtaining over $150,000 from false claims and recruiting other former players in the scheme.
The Justice Department listed 12 other former NFL players who had already pled guilty in the fraud scheme: Joseph Horn, Correll Buckhalter, Carlos Rogers, James Butler, Etric Pruitt, Ceandris Brown, John Eubanks, Antwan Odom, Darrell Reid, Anthony Montgomery, Fredrick Bennett, and Donald “Reche” Caldwell, who passed away in June 2020.
Portis and Vanover both pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and agreed to pay full restitution of the money they obtained. Portis is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 6, 2022 and Vanover’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 22, 2022.
Both face a maximum of 10 years in prison.
McCune is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 19 and is facing maximum prison time of nearly 300 years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, 13 counts of health care fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, and three counts of aggravated identity theft.